The Georgia Southern men's golf team is competing in the NCAA Stanford Regional. Go behind the scenes on and off the course as the Eagles look to continue their recent hot streak.
The Wrap-Up Blog - Wednesday
Well, I guess its time to wrap up this blog for the 2019 NCAA Stanford Regional. It's been a lot of fun sharing the hard work of this great group of players and their coaches. A lot of Thank Yous are in order. So, let's get started.
We need to start out thanking Coach Carter Collins and Coach Cody O'Toole for their access to this team over the past few days. We were a part of everything and we really appreciate it. Couldn't happen without your help.
Also, at the top, thank you to all the players. I know this is a bit redundant, but these players are not only top-notch golfers, but better people. They have embraced us and allowed us into their lives at this very important time. They did the goofy interviews when asked and let us get up close around the course with them. I believe we were the only school here (besides host Stanford) to have not only one, but two representatives from the communications staff here chronicling the trip.
Thank you to all the parents and family members who came out west to support the team. We had a nice contingent and I hear the parent's group chat passing along scores was even more efficient than Golf Stat! It was great meeting all of you and getting to hear great stories about their children. You can tell they're very proud of their kids and this team and it was awesome to see them living and dying with every shot. You are why we do it and it's good to know you are reading the content.
Thank you to
Jeremy Wynder, our Digital Media Content Director, who has been taking the video I've tried to cobble together and making it into deliverable video content. He's in his second week on the job and already killing it. A thank you to
Marc Gignac, our golf SID, for allowing me to come along as well. He's used to flying solo, but we had fun this week exploring San Carlos and the areas around us. Also, a thank you to the Georgia Southern Athletics administration who allow this to happen.
It truly is a pleasure to do this blog. Writing press releases can be a little monotonous and this allows me a little creative freedom. And spending the day walking a golf course isn't a bad way to earn a living. Today was a special day with the blog. To see the pure joy on the team's face when it became official was special. This team is pretty young with four of the five expected back next year, but it has to be special for senior
Steven Fisk to go with his teammates to nationals.
Your friendly blogger has a few hours to kill before heading to the airport. We are on the red eye with the team late tonight and arrive back in Savannah around 9:30 tomorrow morning. We've kept Lyft in business this week with all of our trips, but we'll have one more to SFO this evening.
So, as we leave you from Palo Alto, it's time to say good bye. Condoleeza Rice is coming to an event here at the golf course and they're kicking us out ... literally. So until next time, Hail Southern and GATA!
Gallery: (5/15/2019) NCAA Stanford Regional - Day 3
The Post-Round 2 Blog - Tuesday
Another round is in the books and the Eagles are in contention with 18 holes to go. A lot can happen tomorrow, but if these five keep playing like they've been playing and stay the course, a trip to Fayetteville could be in their future.
Yesterday, the Eagles started on the back 9 and your friendly blogger followed them around until the turn and then came in to send video highlights to the media. Starting today on 1, we got to see the front 9, which is completely different.
For one, it's a lot flatter. Two, it's just odd. On the first tee, you drive over a power line and a road, then take a winding path down to said road. You then wait for the walk signal to allow you to cross the street, crossing over four lanes of traffic on Junipero Serra Boulevard. It's funny to think of Tiger Woods standing on the corner of Links and Junipero Serra waiting to cross traffic ... I'm sure that turned some heads of drivers back in the day.
Along the front half, you pass tennis courts and the picturesque Stanford Red Barn, home of the Cardinal Equestrian Team. Fun fact, before Stanford became a world-class university, it was a horse farm that produced champion racehorses. Stanford is still affectionately called "The Farm," and the barn still operates to this day. Golf and local culture ... you get it all from here.
Stanford has been a great host and the staff and workers have been super friendly. Even some of the current student-athletes have come out to support their peers. Stanford varsity teams 121 NCAA championships (65 men, 56 women) and at least one Stanford team has won an NCAA championship during each of the last 43 years. Over 160 Stanford-affiliated athletes have won a combined total of 270 medals (139 gold, 73 silver, 58 bronze) in Olympic competition, so there's no telling who was walking the grounds this week.
In case you missed it, earlier this morning senior Steven Fisk was named a semifinalist for the Division I Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year Award presented by Barbasol. One of 30 players in the country to earn the honor, Fisk won six tournaments this season, including his second Sun Belt Championship, becoming the second player in league history to win the conference championship twice. Congrats Steven!
After everyone signed their cards and gathered for a quick meeting, the team headed back to the range to fine tune things before tomorrow. The ride home took us through all sorts of fancy neighborhoods as we tried to avoid traffic. Brett Barron took particular pleasure in house hunting in the Menlo Park area and found one house on the market for a mere 26 million. No word on if he put an offer on it or not. Stay tuned.
The team is back at the hotel relaxing with their families. They'll go out and get some dinner and then head to bed. They'll be back at it again early tomorrow in hopes of making it to the Big Dance. They'll be paired with LSU and Ole Miss and based on the number of teams in contention, it should be a fight to the finish! My best guess is the Eagles will need to beat one of them and hold off UNCG to secure a top-5 finish, but all of these teams are here for a reason, so we'll have to get a total team effort to achieve our goals tomorrow. The chance of rain has increased by the hour, so that could also play a factor as the teams try to stay above the red line.
We'll check back in tomorrow on the final day! Until then, make sure to follow @GaSouthernGolf on Twitter for more insight into the team and the trip. Go Eagles!
Gallery: (5/14/2019) NCAA Stanford Regional - Day 2
The Early Morning Round 2 Blog - Tuesday
Welcome back! We left off with the team on the range after the first round. Here's what happened since then ... the team returned to the hotel in San Carlos a little after 5 p.m., ate dinner and retreated to their rooms for the night. With a successful first round, the Eagles were rewarded with a tee time in the first grouping. The first grouping?
Yes, so apparently at NCAA Regionals, the top teams tee off first, not last like in the regular season. It's reward to play the course early on when the greens are still a little wet from overnight and before the wind picks up. So the Eagles left the hotel at 6:30 a.m. to get to the range for warm-ups for their 8:30 a.m. tee time with UNCG and No. 12 and host Stanford.
As for your blogging staff, it was an early turn-in for us. After arriving late Sunday night and walking 18 holes on Monday to bring you coverage, this group faded pretty early last night. We looked at heading to west coast fave In-N-Out Burger, but the line was longer than Freedom's Flight on a breezy Saturday evening in Paulson.
Instead, we drove around looking for a good local establishment, but with gas sitting at $4.68 per gallon, we didn't want to mess around. The cost of living out here is no joke with 1,200-square-foot houses starting in the millions peppered around town and Teslas popping up like the gnat's in a Statesboro August, it's a wonder so many people can even afford to live out here.
The team left the hotel at 6:30 a.m. and is currently eating at the buffet here in the clubhouse. They'll head to the range pretty soon and tee off in about an hour.
In the meantime, enjoy some highlights and interviews from yesterday.
We'll check back in later tonight! Remember, make sure to follow @GaSouthernGolf on Twitter for more insight into the team and the trip. Go Eagles!
The First Round Blog - Monday
The first round is in the books and we saw birdies, an eagle and a ... snake. That's right, several in fact, but they seemed harmless and in their natural habitat, so no one seemed to pay them any attention. The Eagles are off the course and at the range fine-tuning their games before tomorrow's second round. Today's round was a tough one, but the Eagles sit in third place after the first day as they look to stay above that magical red line on Golf Stat, which signifies the cut for the NCAA Championship. A few of the big dogs faltered today, putting up some uncharacteristic scores, but remember that this is a marathon, not a sprint. Expect tougher pin placements and a tougher course tomorrow.
The Eagles started on the back nine, which as we were told, is way more scenic for us taking photos and videos, but the easier of the sides. GS carded 11 birdies on their "front 9" to take advantage of the conditions. The course is a tough one. Only 21 out of 75 individuals were in red numbers and only three teams - No. 12 Stanford, UNCG and GS - were under as a team. The Eagles will play with the Cardinal and Spartans tomorrow in what should be a fun grouping. Expect some larger crowds following around the home team, but Eagle head coach
Carter Collins insists it won't change their approach.
Standing on the 14th tee, Coach Collins told me the team's goal for the day was to be even or under par on all of the par 3s. They only accomplished that on two of the five par 3s and they still sit in third place, so all in all that's a win with room for improvement.
It was also great to see a lot of parents out here on the west coast. It was funny looking at the pairings and seeing GS with UNCG and Augusta, teams that are within a four-hour drive of Statesboro, put together out here in California, but the Eagle parents showed up and were a welcome sight for the players and they moved around this unfamiliar course.
That's about it for today. The team will wrap up practice and head back for dinner. With an earlier tee time tomorrow, it'll be an early bed time for the guys and your friendly blogger, who logged nearly 18,000 steps on this hilly course and is ready for bed already, even though it's only 4:30 p.m. out here.
See you tomorrow! Remember, make sure to follow
@GaSouthernGolf on Twitter for more insight into the team and the trip. Go Eagles!
Gallery: (5/13/2019) NCAA Stanford Regional - Day 1
The Practice Day Blog - Sunday
The Eagles have settled in out west and are adjusting their bodies to west coast time.
This trip was by far the longest for the Eagles this year. In fact, if you add up the one-way mileage of all of Georgia Southern's previous tournaments this year, it's less than 800 miles more than this one trip alone. The team traveled approximately 3,400 miles for their 11 previous events and nearly 2,700 miles for this one. It's not the first time the program has played out west as the guys played in Hawaii in both 2016 and 2017 and in Los Cabos, Mexico in 2015.
This is, however, only the third time in program history the Eagles have played NCAA postseason in the Golden State. The last time came in 1988 when they played at Southern Cal in the Los Angeles area. The other time came in 1984 when the Eagles played at San Diego State. Both of those events were NCAA Championships, while this will be the first Regional for the Eagles in California.
After a round at Half Moon Bay and some sightseeing yesterday, it's time to get down to business with the official practice round at the Stanford Golf Course. It was the first time any of the teams - other than host Stanford - have seen the course this season.
Here's a wrap-up from Coach
Carter Collins on the practice round ...
"The team had a great day at the Stanford Golf Course preparing for the tournament. This is the first time that most of the team has competed in California, so getting used to the new grass was a big goal for today and we thought the guys handled it very well. This golf course will require more brains than strength and the team did a great job of developing game plans that they can execute for the next three days. The Stanford Golf Course is a shorter course that will require accuracy off the tee with shorter clubs to make sure that you're putting the ball in good position on and around the greens. The greens are quick but very smooth and as long as you are keeping the ball in the proper positions there will be some birdies available. The next three days will be a tough challenge but they have worked hard all year for this opportunity and we are looking forward to making the most of it. Each of these guys are very proud to be representing Georgia Southern in NCAA post season and we will do everything we can this week to keep this great year going."
Each player has their own practices for preparing for a tournament and this day allows them some freedom to work on their games at their pace. Some spend more time on the green, others spend a lot of time chipping, others do a little of everything.
The Eagles will tee off tomorrow on hole 10 at 9:55 a.m. local time (12:55 p.m. Eastern) with UNC Greensboro and Augusta on the par 70, 6,727-yard Stanford Golf Course. The team will hit the road a little before 7 a.m. local time to try and beat the horrific gridlock around the area and get the course in plenty of time to warm up and get ready for their tee times.
A few other notes to bide you over til tomorrow:
• This is the third appearance in the NCAA Championships under head coach
Carter Collins and the eighth in Collins' 12 seasons on the coaching staff.
• It's Georgia Southern's eighth NCAA Championship appearance in the last 11 seasons.
• Georgia Southern will use the same lineup that the Eagles used in the Sun Belt Championship -
Brett Barron,
Colin Bowles,
Ben Carr,
Steven Fisk and
Jake Maples.
Wilson Andress will serve as the ready 6 sub.
• Barron and Fisk are the only players on the Eagle roster who have competed in an NCAA Regional. Barron carded a 229 at the Austin Regional in 2017 and Fisk shot a 212 and tied for 15th. Fisk played in the Kissimmee Regional as an indy last season and carded a 222.
• All six Eagles traveling to the regional are from Georgia. Two have won Georgia State Amateur titles -
Colin Bowles won in 2016 becoming the youngest since Bobby Jones - and
Brett Barron won in 2018.
Also, one last shout out that we forgot yesterday. A huge congrats to
Crawford Simmons who graduated from this fine institution this weekend. As you know, Crawford has a unique story, coming here as a 24-year-old "freshman" after playing minor league baseball out of high school. He has been an absolute joy to have around this program and has done everything the right way, as evidenced by him being named a team captain twice. So Congrats, Crawford, and here's hoping life treats you right as you move on from Statesboro!
See you tomorrow! It's time for some Game of Thrones .... shhhhh, no spoilers.
Until then, make sure to follow
@GaSouthernGolf on Twitter for more insight into the team and the trip. Go Eagles!
The Opening Blog - Saturday
It's time for NCAA postseason golf and for the 25th time, the Georgia Southern men's team will be making an appearance. This is the first of several blog entries for the Eagles' appearance in the NCAA Stanford Regional here in Palo Alto. We hope you enjoy this inside look at the program and the trip out west as the Eagles try to qualify for nationals held in a few weeks in Arkansas.
Friday was a long day for all involved as the team left Statesboro in the morning for the short ride to Savannah to catch the first of two flights to get to California. At 12:55 p.m., the Eagles caught the flight to Atlanta and then connected into San Francisco. It was just a short drive from SFO to the team hotel south near Palo Alto. The rest of the day was spent getting the lag out of the legs and getting used to the new time zone.
Today, the team made the drive from the hotel to get in a practice session at Half Moon Bay Golf Links to get a feel for west coast golf. It's a little breezier on the left coast and the grass will take some getting used to as well. The greens are the same, poa annua, but everything else is a rye grass which is a little different than the Bermuda grass we're used to playing back home.
The course was located just 30 miles south of San Francisco and overlooks the Pacific Ocean. Almost every hole had a view of the ocean and the iconic Ritz-Carlton Hotel served as a great backdrop on a few of the holes. If you are among the dozens of movie buffs who saw American Pie 3: American Wedding, the hotel should look familiar as it's where Jim and Michelle were married. Other movies filmed in the Half Moon Bay area include Harold and Maude, as well as Chasing Mavericks and other surfing movies.
The real practice will happen on Sunday, as the Eagles and the other competitors will get their first look at the course. NCAA rules prohibit playing the course on Saturday.
After the practice round, the team headed into San Francisco to do a little sightseeing. After grinding through the long season and then finals last week, it's been nice for the guys to get away and earn a day like this.
We'll check in tomorrow after the practice round. Remember, we're three hours behind those keeping up with us in the 912, so our morning tee times will actually be early afternoon for you.
Until then, make sure to follow
@GaSouthernGolf on Twitter for more insight into the team and the trip. Go Eagles!
