UGA GOLF COURSE
UGA LAYOUT SITE OF FIVE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
The University of Georgia Golf Course In May 2006, the greens and the greens opened in 1968 with the purpose of complex were completely renovated by supporting the university community Love Golf Design of St. Simons Island. and a collegiate golf program. Over the The new green design brought the course years the course has become an imporup to the championship standards of tant recreation facility not only for the today’s top professional and collegiate University, but for the state of Georgia players. The greens are very characteristic as a whole. of a Jones course and the renovation Avid golfer Dr. Omer C. Aderhold served included 21 new tees, making the course as the University of Georgia’s President more versatile for both amateurs and from 1950-67 and was a driving force professionals. behind the creation of the UGA Golf From 2010-13, the UGA Golf Course Course. hosted the Stadion Classic, an event on “Dr. Aderhold loved the game of golf,” the PGA’s Nationwide Tour and later web. said Liz Murphey, UGA’s legendary womcom Tours. The UGA layout joined only en’s coach and athletics administrator, a handful of university courses to ever COLLEGE GOLF’S HOME COURSE during the 1993 NCAA Championships. host a Nationwide Tour event since the “You could even say this venue is to wom“He was the reason the course was built.” tour’s first tournament in 1990. en’s collegiate championships in the same The University already owned the land The UGA Golf Course has a long history fashion as what Oakmont Country Club might and Dr. Aderhold was a personal friend of for being ranked among the top courses be to the U.S. Open. Robert Trent Jones Sr., the golf course’s in the nation. In 2020, Golfweek tabbed “Five times the UGA Golf Course has architect. In addition, UGA students were UGA as the fifth-best public-access hosted the women’s national championship so interested in having a golf course that course in Georgia and also named it the (1971, ‘81, ‘83, ‘93 and 2013). Oakmont Counthey agreed to pay for it in their student 18th-best college layout in the nation. try Club has hosted eight U.S. Opens. “ activity fees over a five-year period durIn 2019, Golf Advisor named the UGA – Lance Ringler, Golfweek ing the 1960s. course as the fifth-best university lay during 2013 NCAA Championships out in the nation and the eighth-best Over its history, the UGA Golf Course hosted a number of different tournaments including the annual Liz course in Georgia. In 2009, it was selected as one of the best 25 best Murphey Collegiate Classic, the PGA Junior Championship, the Men’s university courses in the nation by Links Magazine. The course remains the home of the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic, and Women’s SEC Championships, Men’s and Women’s NCAA Regionals, as well as the women’s collegiate national championships on five one of the nation’s longest running women’s intercollegiate competioccasions – the 1971 Division of Girls’ and Women’s Sports (DGWS) tions in any sport. Traditionally a spring event, the Liz Murphey did Intercollegiate Championships, the 1981 Association for Intercollegiate move to the fall in 1992 and 2012 to serve as a “fall preview” for the Athletics for Women (AIAW) Championships and the 1983, 1993 and following spring’s NCAA Championships. The list of golfers who have competed in the LMCC reads like a 2013 NCAA Championships. In 2020, the course was slated to host an NCAA Regional for the third time before the COVID-19 pandemic “Who’s Who” of women’s golf, including LPGA Hall of Famers Beth prematurely ended that season. In October 2020, it was announced Daniel, Betsy King and Julie Inkster as well as current standouts Stacy Lewis and Brittany Lang. the UGA layout will now host an NCAA Regional in 2023. By 1990, the course needed heavy renovation and Dave Cousart, OUR OWN LITTLE “AMEN CORNER” the golf course manager, worked to rebuild the greens and irrigation system, as well as integrate a number of Jones’ features that had been From the hill above the UGA Course’s No. 13 green spectators can view as many as nine (or more) shots. left out because of the limited budget back in the 1960s.
2020--21 georgia golf • 3 2020
