Golf After Dark: Finishing Up the Fall

Welcome to the Quiet Storm, your weekly does of Vanderbilt Golf coverage of only the prime cuts that makes all the ladies and gents bounce to the smooth beats of birdies and pars.

Though the Fall in NCAA Golf is not as important as the Spring -championship season, or Summer- individual amateur championships, it was still a successful semester for both the Men’s and Women’s Golf Teams.

The Men’s Fall Season

The Mens’ team finished ranked 21st according to Golf Stat. Out of five tournaments, their best finishes were second at the Crooked Stick Collegiate and third place at the Tavistock Invitational.

They also finished the semester in Atlanta at the East Lake Cup, a semi-new event that mirrors the NCAA Match Play Finals. It was a limited field of four teams, and the Dores placed last in one round of stroke play. However, in the consolation match, they defeated the number one ranked Wake Forest Demon Deacons.

The story of the Fall has been John Augenstein’s stellar play that he carried into the semester from the Summer season. But it wasn’t just about Auggie. After losing two great senior players, including the SEC POY, the Dores need fill out their team. They have three sticks in Auggie, Sophomore Reid Davenport, and Harrison Ott. But they will need two more guys to step into the shoes left by elite competitors.

The Women’s Fall Season

On the Women’s side, the Commodores are the number 12 ranked team in the country. They lost one senior last year in Courtney Zeng, but they have enjoyed the stellar play of Auston Kim and Abbey Carlson. Morgan Baxendale, last year’s 5th seeded player had a tremendous run through the post season and into the Summer.

As a team, they won their first event of the Fall at the College of Charleston. Then they placed second at their own tournament, the Mason Rudolph. They ended their Fall season placing right in the middle of two highly competitive fields.

At the Windy City Classic and then the Battle at the Beach, the Dores placed seventh and ninth, respectively. The fields were littered with Top 25 teams like USCe, USCw, Ole Miss, Arizona, LSU, Duke, Florida, etc. Both were good tests for the women’s team.

The Battle at the Beach was also a fun time. It was technically hosted by TCU, but it was played in Cabo. So... it’s a rough life playing golf in exotic locations.

Both teams will return in the Spring starting in February. The winter is time for the golfers to focus on school and the pending exams. Vanderbilt is an academic institution, after all.