Five spots.

Ten golfers.

Two weeks away from its opening match in Puerto Rico, the Georgia men’s golf team held an intrasquad match play tournament to decide who would make the trip to the Puerto Rico Shootout.

The coaching staff seeded each player based on their fall stroke averages in order to be matched up against their first competitor prior to the beginning of the tournament.

From there, the golfers faced off against their teammates in a double-elimination match play competition.

After weeks of competition, the finals came down to Michigan transfer Joey Garber and junior T.J. Mitchell.

Because Mitchell finished in the top 10 of the Bulldogs’ previous match with an individual victory, he had already punched his ticket for Puerto Rico.

“I went a little more relaxed than him [Garber] because I already had an exemption,” Mitchell said. “Going in all I had was to gain. I didn’t have anything to lose.”

Both golfers had already defeated each other once in the tournament, and they faced off in the finals with one last round.

Knowing that Mitchell already was playing in Puerto Rico, Garber knew he had to come out on top.

The finals came down to the last hole, where Garber sunk a 10-foot putt to stay at even-par, and secure a spot in the Bulldogs’ first match.

“It’s a little different for me,” Garber said. “I’m not used to having to qualify. When I was at Michigan, I was pretty much exempt for every tournament of the year. It was definitely a new experience, and it was good for me. Being able to go through the whole team through the match play was great for me.”

Both players explained that the tournament was great for preparing them for the spring, and did nothing but boost their confidence.

“I was lucky enough and fortunate enough to play well enough to have my ‘A’ game these last couple weeks,” Garber said. “It means a lot to me to show them right away not that I can play. I’m playing against some of the best players in the country on our team. So when you know you can beat them you know you can beat anyone else.”

Right now there are only four Bulldogs playing in Puerto Rico, with one spot still up for grabs.

Mitchell, Garber, Bryden Macpherson, and Keith Mitchell have locked up spots.

To decide who gets the last slot, Bulldogs head coach Chris Haack has implemented a four round stroke play tournament.

Whoever shoots the lowest score after those four rounds will be going to Puerto Rico.

Mitchell is pleased the team held the tournament to decide who would play in Georgia’s first match of the spring. 

“It is just a good way to just start off the season,” he said. “It gets somebody an exemption if they don’t have one, and it’s a good way to fine tune your game before stroke play comes around so you know what you have to work on.”

Most of the golfers did not grow up playing match play, which is judged hole-by-hole to see who gets a better score.

But in order to get his players ready for the NCAA finals — which is a match play format — Haack could think of no better way to gets his players prepared for the spring.

“Since the national championship has that element in it now, the more experience they have, the better,” Haack said.