2014 U.S. Open field dominated by Georgia, SEC alums
The Southeastern Conference has been the top conference in college football for the better part of the past 10 years and the SEC likes to stake its claim as the top baseball conference and with half of the Final Four in last season’s NCAA Tournament, the fans of the conference believe they dominate the major men’s sports and with good reason.
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A fourth men’s sport may begin to creep into the conversation with the big three of football, basketball and baseball as golf is making a push to the field for the 2014 U.S. Open is littered with SEC alums as 23.9 percent of the 156 golfers participating in the event which began on Thursday hail from the conference, including eight from the Georgia Bulldogs.
The eight from Georgia, including Bubba Watson, Brendon Todd and Chris Kirk represent the biggest turnout from one program with the Florida Gators tied with Illinois for second most with five.
Texas A&M is tied for third most with four, joining Florida State, Georgia Tech and Oklahoma State while Alabama, who won the last two national championships in the sport have three partaking in the event at Pinehurst. Vanderbilt and LSU each had two alums in the major event.
The ACC ranked second among conferences with 18.5 percent, the Big 12 came in third with 13 percent and the Big Ten had 12 percent.
The SEC did not win the NCAA title in football this year for the first time in eight years and despite having two teams in the Final Four came up short as Kentucky fell in the final to Connecticut and we wait to see if an SEC team will win the College World Series, but the SEC has the greatest chances from a volume standpoint to claim a U.S. Open title.
Who do you think will win at Pinehurst this weekend? Will it be an SEC alum like Watson?