Golf After Dark: The Tavistock

That sound of smooth rhythmic baselines is the sound of the Fall’s best new segment sweeping the nation- Golf After Dark.

Let’s take a look at your No. 21 ranked Vanderbilt Men’s Team at the Tavistock Invitational hosted at Isleworth Country Club in Windermere, FL. The Dores finished in third place led by a pair of top ten finishes from Reid Davenport (T5, -6) and John Augenstein (T7, -4).

You may recognize the name Isleworth from it being the home (or former) to many celebs, like Shaq or Tiger. It’s also the location where that infamous fire hydrant crash took place.

There are no fire hydrants in this tournament, though. The Dores competed in a field consisting of 15 teams and with ten ranked in the top 50 of Golfstat’s Rankings.

UCF, the home team, turned in a -20 performance. Second place went to the LSU Tigers at -6. Vandy was the only other team to finish under par as a team. And for good reason, Isleworth is a 7,500 yard whopper with a rating of 77.7 and slope of 137. 77.7! That may be three ‘7’s in a row, but that isn’t lucky.

Davenport, a Sophomore, carded a steady -2, 70, each round.

John Augenstein was two strokes off Davenport, started the event with a less than optimal 73 but followed it with a 67, and finished with a smooth 72, much like the smooth nature of his flowing locks... or this blog post.

As a team, Vandy was very average in scoring on par-3’s and par-4’s turning in a 3.18 and 4.08, respectively. However, on par-5’s the Dores were second with 4.83.

Individually, Davenport was second in scoring on par-3, playing them at -2 with a scoring average of 2.83, and was third on par-5’s with a scoring average of 4.58, -5.

Digging a little deeper, Davenport bogeyed the 8th hole two days in a row. It is a 465 yard par-4, and only the 9th hardest hole on the course. While he made a meal out of the 4th hardest hole on the course, 590 yard par-5 17th, birdieing all three days.

Even more interesting, Davenport made a bogey on 13th, a par-5, in his first round. (Bogeying par-5’s is a big scoring no-no, as most are accessible enough to play, on average below par) Then, in his final round, he double bogeyed (double yikes! amirite???) the 3rd hole, a par-5. But he came back and eagled the next par-5, the 7th.

Vanderbilt’s team has been blessed (#blessed?) and cursed with having three elite golfers year in and year out, but they have struggled to find a fourth. This year, does not appear to be much different. Auggie and Davenport have shown early that they are the cream of the crop, and Harrison Ott is hanging around on the periphery. But they will need the likes of William Moll and Michael Shears to step their games up before the Spring.

The Dores will return at the East Lake Cup hosted by East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, GA, from October 28-30.