Aiken's Kevin Kisner gets chance to speak to Georgia football team

Kirby Smart wanted the Georgia football team to learn a lesson about perseverance, so the Bulldogs’ head coach called on his good friend, and former Georgia golfer, Kevin Kisner for motivation.

Kisner, an Aiken native, was bringing his family into Athens last Friday to watch the NCAA gymnastics regional. Knowing this, Smart devised a plan.

After finishing runner-up to fellow former Bulldog Bubba Watson at the 2018 WGC-Match Play, the 35-year-old Kisner managed to win that event a year later, edging Matt Kuchar 3 and 2 in the championship.

Photos: Masters Wednesday Practice Round

After close calls to Alabama in the national championship in 2018 and again in the SEC Championship later that year, Smart wanted his football team to hear about the resolve and determination that made Kisner a champion.

“He asked if I’d come by and talk about being in that position last year and losing and what it took to come back and win the next year,” Kisner said. “He said the team could learn a lot from that.”

Kisner is one of three former Bulldogs in the Masters field this week, along with Keith Mitchell and Watson. Kisner will tee off his fourth consecutive Masters at 12:54 p.m. Thursday.

Kisner’s speech to the Bulldogs wasn’t the first time Smart has used the success of former Georgia golfers as an example for his program, Kisner said.

“Kirby’s first thing he did when he took the job, we chatted, and he’s like, ‘We’ve got to make all the success the golfers are having, we have to use it to our benefit,’” Kisner said. “I thought that was really cool. He incorporated all of us to be a part of the program, and I think that’s awesome.”

Kisner, who proclaims himself a passionate Georgia football fan, tries to make it to a game or two each season. Two seasons ago, former Alabama golfer Justin Thomas provided a helicopter for Kisner to fly from the season-ending Tour Championship at Atlanta’s East Lake Golf Club to Athens to catch Georgia’s game against Mississippi State.

While he was hoping to inspire the football team last Friday, he made sure to let them know that they constantly inspire him as well.

Photos: Masters Par-3 Contest

“I told them that,” Kisner said. “Everybody complains when they lose but they don’t understand what they go through and I do. I’ve seen it and I had to go through the same stuff. I love the way they compete and I love the way he’s got them playing and I look forward to the year.”

Kisner is in search of a better showing this week than his previous three tries at Augusta National. Last season’s even-par finish placed him 28th, the best result of his Masters career.

Chris Haack, Kisner’s college coach, believes Kisner is playing some of his best golf at the moment, and the Match Play championship proved the steadiness his former player has always shown.

“He does a great job of never getting overly excited or overly annoyed by anything,” Haack said. “He just kind of plays golf and he’s kind of got that steely-eyed look from the get-go. He just kind of focuses on what he can do and doesn’t seem to get caught up in the nuances of who he’s playing and so forth, he just plays golf.”

But Kisner said he had extra motivation to beat Kuchar in the Match Play finals after hearing the former Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket jokingly tell an NBC reporter, “God, I hate them ‘Dogs.”

The mild-mannered Kisner took the words to heart.

“Oh heck yeah, I was in the locker room in between rounds when he said he hated those Bulldogs, so that was a little more incentive,” Kisner said. “But we’re good friends, we’ve known each other a long time and he’s a great player and I wanted to beat him individually more than the university rivalry – but it’s always fun to beat those guys.”