We can of course begin with Bubba Watson. The 35 year old husband of former Georgia women's basketball star Angie Ball is finally stepping out of her shadow. That's 2 wins at Augusta National in 3 years, and his 3 stroke victory at an 8-under 280 is his second of 2014 (Northern Trust Open in February). With a hat tip to lee dawg...
We now have a 2 time Masters champion who uses a pink driver and owns the General Lee. Who says golf is boring?
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 13, 2014
And where does a proper Southerner celebrate after a long, happy day? Where else?
Champ dinner @WaffleHouse! #hashbrowns #covered pic.twitter.com/rXuaHtXqj5
— bubba watson (@bubbawatson) April 14, 2014
But Bubba wasn't alone in Augusta. 28 year old Chris Kirk finished with a 2-over 290, good to tie with 4 others including Freddie Couples and day one leader Bill Hass at 20th. Russell Henley, a 25 yr old native of Macon, finished 3 shots further back, tied for 31st.
G Day was Saturday, and the best news comes in the form of no significant injuries during the spring that will linger through to the fall. Brice Ramsey struggled, but Faton Bauta and Hutson Mason had good numbers. Gurley looked healthy, and walk-on CB Aaron Davis continues his progress into possibly starting this fall. The 6' redshirt freshman who lost most of his last two seasons at Luella High School in Locust Grove due to knee injuries, saw his return to good health and rise up the depth chart develop into the story of the spring.
On the baseball field, Georgia bounced back from a Thursday defeat to win their third straight SEC series. Friday saw Ryan Lawlor went the full way with 10 strikeouts for his first career complete game, and the offense had a good day for a 7-4 win Saturday against the top 25 ranked Vols.
On the tennis courts, Manny Diaz got win #600 as a coach with a 4-0 win Friday at Alabama. Sunday's clean sweep of Auburn capped off an SEC Regular Season Championship outright, and locked up the #1 seed at next weekend's SEC Tournament in Nashville.
In Athens, the women's tennis team fell to Bama in a top 10 showdown Friday, but swept a top 25 Auburn 4-0 on Sunday. They'll next take the courts in Columbia, Missouri for the SEC Championships this weekend as a 3 seed. And we'd be remiss if we didn't heap a little praise on the tennis fans out there. Georgia women's tennis lead the nation in attendance.
Just across the parking lot from the Dan Magill Courts, freshman Kendall Williams considered her athletic assault on record boooks, setting an American Junior record point total in her Bulldog Heptathlon win. It was a big weekend on the Spec Towns track as Dawgs dominated multiple competitions.
The Lady Softball Dawgs took the series opener in Baton Rouge, but lost the last two games of the series to LSU.
Other news of note includes the young girls knocking off the veterans in soccer Saturday, diver Laura Ryan having success at US trials, and if you are looking for a basketball camp for your kids this summer, Mark Fox will be holding his camps in the middle of June.