www.centralmaine.com
I don't think this has anything to do with NIL/super conference changes. University of Georgia is a FAR superior college golf program to UConn. Better resources, better alumni connections, better region of the country/weather for golf, higher profile, better competition. As @ThabeetDown mentioned, this is a total no brainer for anyone in his position and would have been before the college landscape changes from the last few years. Good for him, he clearly earned this opportunity.
100% spot on. Clearly he's talented considering he qualified for the US Open (regardless of how he played there) and likely will be pursuing a pro golf career. Playing SEC golf not only helps him from a competition/resources standpoint, but also purely from a geographical/weather standpoint. He'll be able to play golf in December-February which probably isn't on the menu in Storrs.
Agree. But Jerry Kelly played for UHart and had a decent career. But UGA is a Cadillac program.
Weren’t we Big East champs last year?
I disgree. IMHO, this has everything to do with the NIL. This is just the tip of the iceberg. I've spoken to a few coaches and they feel this is going to be the new normal for underclassmen in almost every sport (sans basketball). Any freshman who excels at UConn in year one is going to leave because of the NIL opportunites the SEC and BIG will offer. It's why Reggie Crawford is in the transfer portal currently. If he doesn't get what he feels he should, he's going to the SEC to capitalize on the NIL opportunities and better compeititon. I can't speak for Caleb - I have no insight into his situation - but I honestly feel the flagshipness of the Georgia golf program is secondary to NIL opportnities (given the concerns I have heard from those I have spoken with of the ripple effect NIL/coference realignment are having).
I'm actually curious how much male college golfers can reasonably expect to make in NIL opportunities. My guess is it's not exactly life-changing money. Regardless, I don't think there's any chance a golfer in his position would have turned down this opportunity even before the landscape shift. It's really hard to overstate how much better of an opportunity it is for someone in his position at UGA than UConn.
This is pure nonsense. Any stud golfer in Connecticut or Maine who has pro aspirations is going to jump at the opportunity to play golf year round in Georgia, Florida, Arizona...
regionals too
also Petrovic both doing pretty good on the champion's tour
Call it whatever you want, but it’s not nonsense. It’s the future - and it stinks.
For golf and those types of sports it is nonsense. Better coaching, facilities, competition, alumni/donors who are golfers. Anyone who is a serious golfer with the skill to turn pro would be an idiot not to transfer to an sec, big 12 or pac 10 school for their golf future
Do you have a basis for this? I’m not saying you’re wrong, just genuinely curious. And I’m not talking like top player in college golf, just second or third best player on a top program that is far from a sure fire PGA star. There are some female college golfers with huge social media followings but I don’t know that it’s comparable on the mens side.
I can't speak for other sports, but I can speak to golf. If you are a high school kid in the Northeast and want to improve your golf, you go to IMG or one of the other golf academies so you can play year round. Junior golfers in the Northeast hope for a southern school to look at them, but it rarely happens unless you perform well at the AJGA events and are willing to travel south for tournaments. And, the top Northeastern high school golfers that have performed and been noticed are already going to southern or western schools. Michael Thorbjornsen, who is from Massachusetts and won the US Junior Amateur and came in 4th at the Travelers this year, left Massachusetts and went to IMG, but returned to his high school for senior year. He is now at Stanford.
Yep and Pat Sheehan who also had a couple decent years on the PGA.
….and Jay Williamson who played at Trinity. I believe that Kelly, Petrovic and Sheehan all played on the same golf team at UHart. Three PGA tour professionals on the same college golf team out of the Northeast. And Jerry went to UHart on a hockey scholarship until they cancelled the program. Incredible story!
