Football season is over. At least for me it is. Sure, I’ll tune in to some of the Meteor Game to end all Meteor Games Monday night. And I’ll check out the NFL playoffs and Super Bowl here and there. But my zest for all things football is rooted in Georgia Bulldog football, and once that season ends, my old man’s fancy turns to other shiny objects.
One of my shiny objects is golf. You might not care for the game, I get that. But not only do I play the game, I’ve enjoyed watching it my entire life. And what makes the game even more enjoyable? Rooting for golfers who share our love for the University of Georgia. Because they played there, usually for 4 years. And to a man, they root for all things Red and Black.
And since UGA has 2 national championships in men’s golf, and a couple handfuls of SEC championships, it’s a Bulldog Point of Pride. So without ado, here’s the first installment of my 11th (!!!) season of ‘Dawgs on Tour.
The season started 2 weeks ago in Maui, and returns this week for the 3rd tourney but the first in the lower 48. The American Express is a little funky as a tournament (multiple courses, multiple sponsors, slightly below average field, etc.) so we will kick off the season with which golfers you want to root for (in no particular order):
Brian Harman: 3 Tour wins in 12 seasons, but over $38 million in oversized checks. 41st in FedEx, and 30th in the world rankings. 2024 was good, but not great. Harman made the cut in 21 of 23 events, with 3 top 10 finishes and over $5 million. But no wins. He was part of the 2023 Ryder Cup team and the 2024 Presidents Cup team.
Russell Henley: 4 Tour wins in 12 seasons, with over $32 million in career on-course earnings. Made 18 of 19 cuts last season, with 11 top 25s and 7 top 10s, earning over $7 million. He’s off to a good start this year, tying for 10th at the Sony Open last week (where he has a win and a runner-up). 21st in FedEx Cup this season, and 17th in the world rankings. Was a solid performer for the winning US Ryder Cup team, pairing with Scott Scheffler who was frankly effusive in his praise of Henley after the matches.
Chris Kirk: 6 PGA Tour wins over 15+ seasons (he took a voluntary leave to deal with mental health & substance abuse issues). He won the season-opening Sentry Tournament of Champions last January, then tailed off a bit with only 2 other top 10 finishes. That was still good for over $6 million in these times of inflated purses. Kirk is 60th in the world rankings, and 72nd in FedEx Cup.
Brendon Todd has 3 wins, having turned pro with Chris Kirk in 2007. But he has a few more miles on the Korn Ferry Tour, taking a little longer to get PGA Tour status, and having to return to the KFT due to poor play. But he’s still made over $18 million on the golf course. He made 22 of 26 cuts last year including 6 top 25 finishes. He’s 113th in the world and 72nd in FedEx points.
Harris English: 4 Tour wins, and over $31 million in 13 years on Tour. Made the cut in 21 of 26 events played last year with 4 top 10s and 11 top 25s. He finished 55th in the FedEx Cup race, and is 74th in the world rankings.
Sepp Straka: The Austrian born, Valdosta raised, and Athens educated Straka has 2 Tour wins over 6 seasons. He made 17 of 24 cuts last year, including 3 of the 4 majors. He’s ranked 36th in the world, and 25th in FedEx Cup. He was also part of the winning 2023 European Ryder Cup team, and represented Austria in the last two Olympic games.
Kevin Kisner: 4 PGA Tour wins over 14 seasons, but with a caveat. He’s lost his golf game. A top 15-20 player in the world at one point, Kiz has struggled with his swing the last few years. And as such hasn’t been eligible to play in as many tourneys. He teed it up 23 times last year and only made 6 cuts and no good finishes. But he’s been a President’s Cup assistant captain, and will do the same for the 2025 US Ryder Cup team. He’s so well liked that he’s started a decent amount of broadcasting, serving as a lead analyst on NBC. He will compete in 2025 on Tour, but because he is using a “Top 50 Career Money Earnings” exemption.
Keith Mitchell has but a single Tour win in 6 PGA Tour seasons, but a decent $15 million in earnings. Known for his visor and his drip, “Cashmere Keith” is a popular player on Tour. In 28 events last season, Mitchell finished top 25 in almost half of them and had 4 top 10s. Wanting to improve his position, he played the fall events and had a 3rd place finish in Mississippi, but missed the last 4 cuts. He’s 61st in FedEx Cup, and 101st in the world.
Greyson Sigg just finished his 3rd full year on Tour. He doesn’t have a win, but he does have a top 5 and has made over $4 million in that time. Sigg only made about half the cuts last season, and missed the playoffs. But he’s eligible for most regular Tour stops, so he needs to start pressing.
Davis Thompson has only played 2 full years on Tour. One of the most highly decorated UGA golfers, Thompson finished runner-up in one of his first tourneys as a pro, then captured the John Deere last July for his only win (so far). In his young career, he has 7 top 10 finishes in 72 events – almost a 10% clip.
Will Chandler is the newest PGA Tour member who played collegiately at Georgia. After a solid career in Athens, Chandler turned pro in 2011, but never achieved the desired success on the mini-tours. But he qualified for, and excelled, at the PGA Tour Qualifying tournament (Q-school). Being among the top 5 just a couple of months ago, he earned his Tour card and will be playing events this season. With the ever evolving and more stringent tournament entry qualifications, he’ll be hard pressed to get as many as he wants, so he’ll have to make the most of his few opportunities.
Those are the players with an active PGA Tour card. There are some previous PGA Tour winners from UGA who do not have memberships, notably Bubba Watson and Hudson Swafford.
Bubba is 46 years old now. And while his 12 Tour victories and 2 Masters championships should be good enough, he forfeited his membership when he joined the upstart and disruptive LIV Golf League. It is likely he was paid well in excess of $50 million to do so, and I won’t blame him for that in this stage of his life. He hasn’t performed well at LIV, despite being captain of the “Range Goats” team (don’t ask, unless you really want to know). He’s done some on-course work for TV, notably in made-for-TV silly season matches, so I don’t really know where his game or his head is at.
Hudson Swafford also grabbed the Saudi money for LIV, and also has floundered in that league. Notably, he suffered a lower body injury and missed considerable time recovering from surgery. Now, he has hinted that he’d like to come back to the PGA Tour but has met with a myriad of obstacles to his reinstatement. He was relegated at LIV, and honestly doesn’t have much of a golf home where he can play regularly.
So there’s the list. We’ll be back as the season warms up with previews and reviews, and any Georgia-golf related news. Enjoy the golf if that’s your bag, enjoy a good men’s basketball team for the first time in a long time, and as always…
GO ‘DAWGS!!!