Chris Haack Quotations

We're looking forward to getting started again. The guys have worked hard in practice and in qualifying, and it's a nice reward to get to play in a tournament, especially in a place as nice as Puerto Rico. We're looking forward to knocking off some rust and getting ready for the rest of the spring.

I was real proud of the way our team came back and played in the final round. We were 17 shots behind after Monday and it would have been easy for the guys to mail it in. But instead, they came back and played with a lot of focus and a lot of pride. I think our final round is a real positive as we head into a pretty important stretch of our season.

Chris had one of the best fall seasons I've ever seen. He definitely picked up where he left off this week. He's playing with an awful lot of confidence right now. His back nine today was incredible.

I think anything under par out here on this golf course is a good score,

When I first saw this golf course I thought 4 or 5 or 6 under might win. So to shoot 19 under, I'd definitely rate this effort an A-plus. I give our guys a lot of credit. They came out and played extremely well. I hope this sets the tone for us for the year. It certainly shows we can win and can win against the best teams.

The quality of junior golf is such that players can step up and make the transition to the college game much quicker than ever before,

We had some guys get off to a rough start, but we hung in there and kept the lead. The main thing is, we still have a chance to win it. That's all players and coaches ever want. Our guys have been here before, so they know what to expect and how to respond to this challenge.

We've had some pretty intense qualifying rounds. The competition is making everybody better.

We had our two freshman shoot 15-under (for the tournament), now that excites me. More than anything, it shows what they can do and that they are ready to step in and play. I know one thing, it's going to be really exciting just watching guys try to get into the lineup. Now that's a nice luxury to have.

There's no question that playing so close to Athens and the campus has its advantages for us. Travel is very time consuming and taxing physically, especially when you're juggling academic and athletic schedules, so we'll be able to avoid some of that and hopefully be fresher for the NCAA Regional and the NCAA Championships. We also hope these tournaments will give our supporters a chance to come out and watch us play. It means so much to the guys to look into the gallery and see someone wearing a Georgia cap or shirt.

It's another great field, so we'll have to be at our best to be in the hunt.

Take golf out of the equation, and ask yourself, 'Will I still be happy there?'

It was nice to see Brian come out and play well. He certainly didn't disappoint anyone in his college debut.

I'm really happy with the team that we've put together for this Palmer Cup. Not only do we have experienced players who are having great college seasons, but we have guys who have competed in Palmer Cups, Walker Cups and The Masters. Hopefully we will have as much success as we did last time I coached.

He can hit any shot and he's got a deft touch around the greens. Ask him on the range to hook a wedge 30 yards and he can do it. Or cut his 2-iron or hit a high driver. He's got all of those shots.

You could just tell he had a lot of charisma, that he was a kind of showman.

You can't win it on the first day, but the guys played solid from top to bottom. I hope to see the rest of the weekend played as well as we played today. We'll take it one shot at time. We don't worry about anybody but ourselves.

This is a golf course that can jump out and get you. There's trouble on every hole so you never can get too comfortable out here. I'll definitely remind our guys tonight that there's still a lot of golf to be played and that they are going to have to stay focused.