Teammates who would become multiple-time PGA Tour winners. Penny-beer nights at bars. The perks of being a college golfer at the University of Georgia were already plenty.
And then there’s where they played.
“I got to ask you one more thing about the University of Georgia because I think one of the big perks is you go play Augusta National,” co-host Colt Knost said on this week’s episode of GOLF’s Subpar podcast.
“Right,” guest Brian Harman said.
Augusta National, home of the Masters, is also about two hours east of Athens, and once a year over Harman’s four seasons a little over a decade ago, it would host the Bulldogs.
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“Yeah, we’d play once a year, and one of the years, we went in like December and it was miserable,” Harman said. “Three-wood into 1. It was terrible.
“And the last couple years we did like three weeks before the Masters, and it’s, I mean, it’s just, it’s the coolest piece of property on Earth. I mean, it’s the coolest piece of property on Earth, with the history, the golf course, what it means, how it’s set up, how it plays. It’s just the coolest place on Earth.”
“I went and played for the first time this year, and I cannot believe how big the place is,” Knost said.
“Oh, it’s huge,” Harman said. “And the hills. The hills. I mean, you walk out of the back of the clubhouse and you’re like, oh, my god, I can see 12. It’s nuts.”
Growing up a Georgia fan, Harman likely would have been a Bulldog if they played on just a practice mat. But then you toss in Augusta. And his teammates. His freshman year, Harman played with Tour pros Kevin Kisner, Brendon Todd and Chris Kirk — and Masters champ Patrick Reed was their sixth man. His senior year, Harman shared a locker room with Harris English, Hudson Swafford and Russell Henley.
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And then there was downtown Athens.
“Of all the things you accomplished in college, another, I think, thing that gets overlooked is you managed to go to Georgia, arguably the best party school in the United States, and also make good grades,” Stoltz said. That’s not easy to do.”
What was it like?
“It was so bad, man, because every — so there’s like 100 bars downtown, and they would all stagger their drink nights,” Harman said. “So I can remember like Monday night was like penny beer night at Generals. Like, well definitely going to do that. And then like Tuesday night is somewhere else and Wednesday night.
“And then we had a rule on the team, like if one of us went out, we all went out, even if we had qualifying the next day, we all had to go. It was like a team-building exercise.”
To watch the complete interview with Harman, click below.
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