It’s not often that the Georgia men’s golf team tees it up as underdogs at a tournament, but that is exactly the case this weekend when they play at the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational presented by Cleveland Golf/Srixon, in Olympia Fields, Ill.

“Russell (Henley) and I were the young guys on the team last year, and now, we’re kind of the leaders this year,” junior Harris English said. “It’s definitely different being the underdogs this year after having such a great team the last two years. It’s been a little different, but I like coming from behind and we’re grinding everyday trying to get better and working hard.”

With seven teams ranked in the top-10 in the tournament – including No. 1 Stanford and No. 2 Oklahoma State – the Dogs are unquestionably an underdog, especially after a disappointing tie for 10th finish last week at their opening tournament of the season – the Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic.

But Georgia coach Chris Haack is excited to see where the Bulldogs stand, even without senior Hudson Swafford and sophomore Will Kropp, who are both out with injuries.

“There is no doubt this is one of the best fields of the year, so it will definitely let us know where we stand among the elite,” Haack said.

“I think the best thing probably is to jump right back in and not think about last week. But, again, we’re up here at a tough golf course where scores are going to be high, so it’s going to be a great challenge.”

For English, the weekend will be a chance for the Bulldogs to show that they’re still in the mix as one of the top teams in the country.

“I think this will be a great test for us early in the year with such a strong field. There are a lot of good teams this year,” English said. “With Stanford and Oklahoma State here, we’ve just got to prove to people that we’re still the team to beat.”

The underdogs will tee it up this week with a lineup of Henley, English, redshirt junior Rob Bennett, redshirt freshman TJ Mitchell, and freshman Brian Carter – the same lineup used last week at the Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic.

With the season-opening jitters already out of the way, English is confident that the team’s performance will be substantially better this weekend.

“Well, I think this week our three guys are going to step up a little bit this week, and they know what to expect. They got their first tournament jitters out of the way, and I really expect them to play a lot better this week,” English said.

“We’ve been trying to help them as much as we can and we’ll just see how it goes, but I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do.”

Haack compares his young Dogs learning experience to another Georgia athlete, one who was thrown out there with little experience but still expected to perform, nonetheless.

“I relate it to a guy like Joe Cox, who will get better with each game, so we just have to get these inexperienced guys some game experience,” Haack said.

However, it won’t be easy to improve off their last outing, as the Bulldogs will face quite the challenge with the North Course at Olympia Fields Country Club, host of US Opens in 1928 and 2003 as well as The PGA Championships in 1925 and 1961.

“It is an awesome golf course,” English said of one of the country’s premier courses. “It’s definitely a US Open caliber course. It’s probably one of the hardest courses we play all year and will be a great warmup for NCAAs in my opinion. It is set up really difficult, and I really think par is a good score out here.”