Harris English will be following Georgia, Tennessee game while playing Mayakoba

Harris English will have one eye on the yardage book and one eye on college football this Saturday at Mayakoba.

English opened with a 7-under 64, putting himself squarely in contention to win his fifth PGA Tour event.

Barring a disastrous Friday in Mexico, English’s good play will lead to an afternoon tee time in Saturday’s third round. Perfect, right?

Full-field scores from the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba

The only problem is that his beloved Georgia Bulldogs play Tennessee in what should be one of the best games of the year in college football while English will be making his way around El Camaleón Mayakoba Golf Course.

English was asked after his round whether he’ll be getting updates on the football game while he’s on the golf course.

“I love to know the score,” English said. “Teeing off when the game’s on like that, I don’t like not knowing what the score is, so my caddie always has the score on the ready for me to ask him. We’ve done a good job of that … Obviously the Georgia-Tennessee game I’m going to be really in tune to, I wish I could be there, and we’ll see what happens.”

Golf is hard enough without trying to follow what’s happening in a football game, but English actually thinks it’s good for him to relax his mind a bit during the round and think about something other than golf.

“It gets my mind off of golf,” English said. “Because we can be so into what we’re doing on the course and almost too into it, so I like having the distraction a little bit. I feel like I play a little better. I’ve had some really good Saturdays and Sundays this fall, and I think it might be partly because some football games are going on.”

Perhaps a Bulldog victory can propel the 2013 World Wide Technology Championship winner to a second victory at Mayakoba.