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Ryan Cullinane
Sports Communications Graduate Assistant
University of Georgia Athletic Association
The No. 23 Georgia men’s golf team ended the first day of the Southeastern Conference Championships in second place on Wednesday morning, paced by freshman Camden Smith’s five-under-par, 65 round on the Seaside Course at the Sea Island Golf Club.
Five Fast Facts
• Smith’s round of 65 set a new collegiate low for the Ponte Vedra, Fla. native, tying him for the fourth-lowest first-round score in SEC Championship history. He led the field in birdies with seven and had the lowest average score on the course’s four par 3s at 2.25.
• Georgia’s team score of 270 on Wednesday marked the program’s lowest first-round score at the SEC Championships since recording a 269 on the opening day of the 2004 SEC tournament.
• Three Bulldogs finished in the top 10 of the individual standings. Senior Caleb Manuel, tied for fourth, and graduate Ben van Wyk, tied for eighth, join Smith who holds the solo lead.
• Georgia was the only school to have multiple players record eagles during the first round. Manuel and van Wyk both finished number 15, a 565-yard, par-five hole in just three strokes.
• Graduate Connor Creasy finished tied with Vanderbilt’s Jackson Van Paris and Florida’s Tyler Wilkes for the most pars during the first round with 16.
Key Quote
“It was great to see the team start off the SEC Championships strong,” head coach Chris Haack said. “These guys have been playing well this semester. That’s the nice thing about having depth on the team – we knew the pieces were there, but we just needed to put it together. Luckily for us, we had a couple of people on the team go low today, which is always a nice way to start it when your first two guys out of the gate are eight-under. That said, we’ve got two more rounds. We’ll need to come out and do it again. We can’t sit on our laurels too long. We’ve got to tee it up again tomorrow morning and keep it going.”
Up Next
Georgia will tee off at 8 a.m. ET on Thursday, April 25 for round two of the SEC Championships. The Bulldogs are paired with first-place Vanderbilt and third-place Auburn.
2024 SEC Championship
Sea Island Golf Club
St Simons Island, Ga.
Par 70, 7,005 Yards
First Round Results
Team Leaderboard
1. No. 3 Vanderbilt 269 (-10)
2. No. 23 Georgia 270 (-9)
3. No. 1 Auburn 274 (-6)
4. No. 22 Texas A&M 276 (-4)
5. No. 7 Tennessee 277 (-3)
t-6. No. 11 Arkansas 279 (-1)
t-6. No. 15 Florida 279 (-1)
8. No. 5 Ole Miss 281 (+1)
t-9. No. 9 Alabama 283 (+3)
t-9. Kentucky 283 (+3)
11. South Carolina 287 (+7)
12. No. 36 Mississippi State 288 (+8)
13. No. 38 Missouri 290 (+10)
14. No. 35 LSU 293 (+13)
Individual Leaderboard
1. Camden Smith, Georgia 65 (-5)
t-2. Jackson Koivun, Auburn 66 (-4)
t-2. Cole Sherwood, Vanderbilt 66 (-4)
t-4. Daniel Rodrigues, Texas A&M 67 (-3)
t-4. Matthew Riedel, Vanderbilt 67 (-3)
t-4. Kyle Meeks, Ole Miss 67 (-3)
t-4. Caleb Manuel, Georgia 67 (-3)
t-8. Ben van Wyk, Georgia 68 (-2)
t-8. Frankie Harris, S.C. 68 (-2)
t-8. Jacob Skov Olesen, Arkansas 68 (-2)
t-8. Hunter Logan, Mississippi St. 68 (-2)
t-8. Gordon Sargent, Vanderbilt 68 (-2)
t-8. Cameron Tankersley, Ole Miss 68 (-2)
t-8. Jack Turner, Florida 68 (-2)
t-8. Jackson Van Paris, Vanderbilt 68 (-2)
t-8. Campbell Kremer, Kentucky 68 (-2)
t-8. Parker Bell, Florida 68 (-2)
Georgia Scores
1. Camden Smith 65 (-5)
t-4. Caleb Manuel 67 (-3)
t-8. Ben van Wyk 68 (-2)
t-27. Buck Brumlow 70 (E)
t-46. Connor Creasy 72 (+2)