Vandy Golf: LastWeek/ThisWeek Today, August 8

WOOOOOOO, it’s a Major Championship Week! It’s the PGA Championship, which has a great history and has been won by every golfing great (except Arnie), but it gets poo-poo’ed because it is often played on uninteresting courses. And, it’s just not the Masters, as penal as the US Open, or historic as the Open Championship. Nonetheless, this week, we’ll see a great field shoot low scores and battle it out. Two of them will be Vandy alumni.

But first, lets talk about current Vanderbilt golfer John Augenstein.

Augenstein made it to the final eight of the Western Amateur Championship and had Brandon Wu on the ropes with two up and two to play. Or as the golfing world calls it, he had him “dormied.” Unfortunately for Augenstein, Wu parred 17 to win the hole, birdied 18 to win that hole, then hit it to four feet on the first playoff hole, sinking a birdie putt to move on to the semifinals.

It was a great tournament for Augenstein, and understandably he probably feels like he should have closed Wu. He is playing some great golf and continuing the tradition of elite Vanderbilt golfers.

On the Mackenzie Tour, Hunter Stewart was cut at the Syncrude Oil Country Championship after two rounds of 75-70. Stewart will tee off at 8:15 tomorrow with Ben Polland and Chandler Blanchet at the ATP Financial Classic in Calgary, Alberta.

Theo Humphrey posted 69-72-73-72 for a T-61 finish and a payday of $585 (Canadian). Humphrey will tee off at 12:45 at the ATP, grouped with Alexander Hicks and Justin Doeden.

On the PGATOUR, Luke List played in the WGC Bridgestone last week. List is 27th in the FEDEXCUP standings and 47th in the OWGR. He placed T-24 along with Phil Mickelson, Louis Oosthuizen, and Webb Simpson. The WGC’s have the highest payout of money and FEDEXCUP points outside the majors. List made $87,250 (USD for anyone concerned about exchange rates).

This week, List tees off at the PGA Championship at Bellrive Country Club in St. Louis at 12:26 with Marty Jensen and Keven Chappell.

Brandt Snedeker did not play in the WGC last week because he has not won on tour this year, nor is he inside the top 50 players in FEDEXCUP points (77) or OWGR (86). But, he is playing this week at the PGA Championship. He tees off at 7:06 AM with Sean McCarty and Haotaon Li.

In fact, I was in St. Louis Monday for a practice round and spent most of my day following Snedeker, Jordan Speith, and Billy Horschel around the course. On 18, BillyHo pulled his driver left into the trees, as did Sneds. Sneds ball nearly took out me and my friend standing near the concession tent and then landed inside the tent itself. Sneds came over with a big grin, informally dropped just outside the tent and cleared the path back to the fairway. He encouraged a few fans to hide behind trees, as well.

Sidenote: one of the coolest things I saw while following different groups throughout the day was Snedeker’s caddy helping some boys get an autograph. Snedeker hit a ball into the left rough off the tee, and some boys came up asking for an autograph. Players usually won’t sign during a practice round, let alone during a hole. They’ll sign before or after a round. The caddy asked for the boys’ hats and Sharpie, then he chased down Snedeker and got him to sign the hats while they were walking. After the hole was finished, he returned the hats to the boys.

Maybe the good karma will bring Sneds a high finish this week.