Hudson Swafford celebrates his first PGA Tour victory Sunday with caddie D.J. Nelson, who played golf for Hixson High School and the University of South Alabama.Former Hixson High School golfer D.J. Nelson was the caddie for University of Georgia alumnus Hudson Swafford in his first PGA Tour victory Sunday in the CareerBuilder Challenge at La Quinta, Calif. Swafford, who was a UGA roommate of fellow Tour player and former Baylor School star Harris English, qualified for his first Masters tournament with the win. Nelson played collegiately at South Alabama with Heath Slocum and caddied 12 years for him on Tour. He has been on Swafford’s bag for three years.
Fishing
* Bryan College’s team of D.J. Barber and Matt Brown finished fifth in FLW’s season-opening YETI College Fishing Southeastern Conference bass tournament last week on Lake Seminole, and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga duos of Gavyn Bridges/Dylan Anderson and Patrick Hoskins/Dillon Falardeau were eighth and 13th and joined them in qualifying for the 2018 FLW national championship tournament. Hoskins and Falardeau both were listed as Chattanooga residents with Bridges from Thompson Station, Tenn., and Anderson from Mount Juliet. Barber is from Gardendale, Ala.; Brown from Corbin, Ky. Teams from Alabama and Mississippi State finished first and second with five-bass limits of 21 pounds, 15 ounces and 18-4 in the one-day event out of Bainbridge, Ga. The Bryan pair’s total was 15-9, while the UTC totals were 12-3 and 11-3. Bryan’s club expects to move up from No. 8 to No. 3 in the Cabela’s School of the Year standings and has three boats in the Cabela’s nationals this May at Lake Pickwick and four in the 2017 FLW nationals May 31-June 2 at Wheeler Lake.
Basketball
* The Tennessee Wesleyan men’s basketball team won 87-74 Monday night at Voorhees in Denmark, S.C., which was the same score of TWU’s Jan. 9 victory when the teams met in Athens. This time Tre Tiller and Kobe Foster scored 14 points apiece and Kenny Dean, QD Cox and Will Gardner each added 10 for the Bulldogs (13-7). Tiller also had seven rebounds and three steals.