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The Commodores are the highest ranked (No. 4) team going into the SEC Championships this weekend at the Seaside Course at Sea Island Golf Resort (hopefully that bodes better for the Men’s Team than it did the Women’s Team).
Commodores are off at the @sec Championships.
— Vanderbilt Men's Golf (@VandyMGolf) April 24, 2019
Live stats:https://t.co/KRM95g2uoS pic.twitter.com/po3Cn4BQac
The Course
SEC Championships are hosted at the Seaside Course at Sea Island Golf Resort. It is a Tom Fazio re-design that is an ocean-side links style course. Fazio is known for moving land around and creating pristine conditions. This course is no exception. It has perfectly manicured fairways and greens that are bordered by native grasses, dunes, wildflowers, coastal waterways and bunkers.
It’s a top 100 course in the US and hosts the PGATOUR’s RSM Classic.
It plays 7,005 yards, par 70 from the tips. It plays at 73.8 handicap and has a slope rating of 141 (aka it’s hard).
The par fours and fives are relatively standard lengths, but the challenge is in the par-3s. The longest is 223 yard, and the shortest is 179 yards for a 200 yard average across the four total holes.
The Teams
Vandy is the highest ranked team with the second lowest adjusted scoring average on the year, but their drop score is the fourth highest of the ranked SEC teams.
No 4. Vandy- 70.79, 75.87
No. 12 LSU- 71.03, 75.75
No. 14 UGA- 70.78, 75.32
No. 15 USCe- 70.84, 76.28
No. 16 Auburn- 71.38, 75.64
No. 21 Alabama- 71.73, 77.01
The Players
The ‘Dores have three players in the top 30. USCE has four players ranked in the top 100 but their best player is No. 22 and second best is No. 59.
No. 11 Will Gordon, Vandy
No 12 Trent Phillips, UGA
No. 14 Patrick Martin, Vandy
No. 22 Scott Stevens, USCe
No. 27 John Augenstein, Vandy
No. 37 Philip Barbara, LSU
No. 47, Spencer Ralston, UGA
No. 58 Jovan Rebula, Auburn
No. 59 Will Miles, USCe
No. 65 Ryan Hall, USCe
No. 73 Pen Pichaikool, MSU
No. 80 Wilson Furr, Alabama
No. 86 Trey Instead, LSU
No. 89 Trace Crowe, Auburn
No 91 Hunter Wolcott, Tennessee
No. 93 Brandon Mancheno, Auburn
No. 100 Ryan Stachler, USCe
The Skinny
SEC’s is a combination of stroke play and match play. There are three rounds of stroke play then the top eight teams are seeded into head to head match play. Individuals face off in matches and each match is a point. Team to 3 points first wins.
Essentially, the ‘Dores have the ability to go lower than any other team, but they may not be the deepest team in the conference. It bodes well for stroke play and maybe levels out the advantage in match play.