When you’ve had arguably the top collegiate golf program in the country for the last decade, the need for walk-ons is virtually nonexistent.

So when senior Wills Smith transferred to Georgia from Division II Armstrong Atlantic last fall, he made one dream come true by enrolling at the university of his dreams. But another – his dream of playing collegiate golf for that same university – seemingly died in the process, as Georgia held the No. 1 ranking and head coach Chris Haack had little need for walk-ons at the time.

But that was last year, prior to All-Americans Brian Harman and Adam Mitchell graduating, and before injuries sidelined three expected contributors – Hudson Swafford, Will Kropp, and Lowery Thomas – for all of the fall campaign.

After receiving a roster spot two weeks ago, Smith has proved he belongs already, immediately winning a starting spot through the team’s qualifying.

“I knew I wanted to go to Georgia whether or not I could play, and if I got the opportunity to walk on, that’d be great,” Smith said. “So to finally have the opportunity to play at Georgia is pretty cool.”

Haack added: “We needed some bodies, so we just looked at two guys that were on campus … and we went out and asked Wills to join us and he qualified for this tournament.”

With Smith advancing through the team’s qualifying, he is playing in this week’s Isleworth Invitational. Although he admittedly didn’t play as well as he would have liked in the opening round, shooting a 9-over-par 81, he was able to calm the nerves and jitters in the second round to shoot a 4-over-par 76, the third best score of the day for the Bulldogs and one better on the day than All-SEC junior Harris English.

“It’s better,” Smith said of his second-round play. “You know I still left several shots out there, but it is going in the right direction.”

As for how Smith, who hadn’t played collegiate golf in over a year, kept his game sharp?

“I joined the University Course last fall and walked nine holes just about everyday,” Smith said.