www.globalgolfpost.com
APRIL 30, 2012
Haack Has A Knack At Finding Talent
STEVE EUBANKS
E-MAIL STEVE
Even in New Orleans, LSU country,
Bubba Watson couldn’t escape the occasional “Go Dawgs!” a cry more ubiquitous
than “You da man!” in his gallery. But,
unlike the latter, Bubba doesn’t ignore the
former. The Masters champ is quite proud
of the University of Georgia diploma that
hangs on the wall of his home. And he is
quick to acknowledge those who shout
“How ’bout them Dawgs,” whether it’s in
Augusta, New Orleans or Los Angeles.
While Bubba is the first major champion to play his college golf at Georgia,
he is far from alone in the tour’s Bulldog
club. Four of the school’s alums – Brendan
Todd, Harris English, Brian Harman and
Kevin Kisner – earned PGA Tour cards in
December, joining Watson, Ryuji Imada,
Erik Compton, Chris Kirk and Matt
McQuillan, while former UGA players
Russell Henley, Justin Bolli, Richard Scott
and Hudson Swafford compete on the
Nationwide Tour.
In total, they constitute the largest
cadre of active tour players to have lettered for the same university under the
watchful eye of a single coach.
Chris Haack, in his 16th season at
Georgia, has won two national champion-
ships, seven Southeastern Conference
championships, finished runner-up in
two more NCAA tournaments, carded
44 tournament wins, and is arguably
the most successful college coach since
Mike Holder’s dynasty at Oklahoma State.
Alumni from Haack teams have earned
north of $30 million on tour and been on
Walker, Presidents and Ryder Cup teams.
And even with the loss of Todd, English,
Harman and Kisner, Haack once again has
a bumper-crop of young talent ranked in
the top 25 in the country.
at most of the game’s best. He chaperoned youngsters such as Davis Love III
and Phil Mickelson at various far-flung
tournaments, and had the foresight to put
a youngster named Tiger Woods on his
Wyndham Cup team when very few people
outside California knew much about the
skinny kid.
Those instincts have served him well
in the college recruiting wars. But it is
Haack’s laid-back style and fair philosophy on who makes his team that keeps
the pipeline full in Athens. He doesn’t fool
with his players’ games (despite being a
collegiate player himself, who has seen
more good golf swings than most teaching
pros), and he doesn’t play favorites.
“We let them play,” he said. “We try to
feed them with a lot of positive reinforcement, put them in a good, fun, comfortable
environment. But more than anything, we
have them compete against each other for
their spots.
“Nothing is given to them. They know
that 72 beats 73 every time, and they know
they have to go out and beat the other
guys if they want to play. It’s never a case
of your résumé getting you a spot. You tee
it up and beat the other guys if you want to
play in the next tournament.”
That simple formula – no favoritism
and no freebies, just 36 to 72 holes of
qualifying before every event – has earned
Haack a mountain of respect from his
players.
“Your better players want a chance to
prove that they deserve to be there,” he
said. “The other players, the guys who
didn’t have stellar junior careers, all they
want is a chance. If a guy shoots three 74s
and misses, he has nobody to blame but
himself and he knows the areas where he
needs to improve. But nobody ever has to
worry about being a suck-up, or believ-
ing that politics has anything to do with
whether or not you play here.”
The only time he considered chang-
ing his system was the fall of 2005 when
Georgia was the defending national cham-
pion with four returning All-Americans
and Harman coming in as a freshman. The
first tournament was held at the course
where the NCAA tournament would be
played the following spring, so it was im-
portant that the best players get a look.
Bubba Watson was the first Bulldog who played under
coach Chris Haack to win a major championship.
