UGA Senior beats World #1 pro golfer

Current senior and co-captain of the men's golf team, Lee McCoy, played on the PGA Tour this week thanks to a sponsors exemption. In Sunday's final round, McCoy was paired with the #1 ranked golfer in the world: current Masters and US Open champion Jordan Spieth. They were tied for 9th place when they started the round, but the amateur showed he was up for the challenge and fired a stellar 69 to finish in 4th place. Speith shot 73 to fall into a tie for 18th.

Amatuers play semi-frequently in pro events, and often qualify for major tournaments based on their ranking and/or results in the important amateur tournaments. As you would expect, they don't often fare too well when facing the best golfers on the planet. McCoys 4th place is the highest amateur finish on the PGA Tour in 2 years, and the last amateur to win a Tour event is Hall of Famer Phil Mickelson in 1991.

McCoy will not claim the $300,000+ prize money so that he may retain his amateur status and continue to lead the #8 ranked Bulldogs through the rest of his senior season. In the interests of full disclosure, McCoy grew up playing the Copperhead course where they competed this week, and had a decent local crowd following him.  Conversely, he is driving from Tampa to Athens overnight as he has class Monday morning at 7:30 am.

More details to come as soon as I get a new laptop. GO DAWGS!!!