Golf School Update: Men Come Out Swinging in Scottsdale!

As you may have heard, Vanderbilt is no longer a baseball school. We’re a golf school now, a golf school whose men’s team is currently in second place by two strokes at the NCAA Championship following the second day of stroke play amongst the field of thirty. At the end of tomorrow that field will be cut to fifteen, and the day after that the field will dwindle further to eight before transitioning into the match play portion of the championship. Currently, the men are thirteen strokes inside the first cut and six strokes inside that all-important second cut. Some teams, including most of the current top ten, still have to play. Regardless of how those teams perform, though, chances look good for the Commodores to hold out and make it to the match play portion of the event.

On a golfer-by-golfer basis, the entire team started off incredibly strong yesterday before diverging in the desert today. Gordon Sargent, Cole Sherwood, and William Moll all finished the first day tied for tenth at even par, giving Vanderbilt a three stroke lead over second place. At the end of his second round, Sherwood (I can only assume his iron and putter are sure, too) sits atop the leaderboard after a three-under round thanks in part to an eagle on 4. Sargent stuck right there with him all day until bogeying 18 to end up tied for second. Meanwhile, Moll took the road less traveled. The junior posted a six-over round today, dropping out of the top ten all the way into a tie for eighty-ninth. Harrison Ott was able to pick up the slack by posting one-over after a disappointing four-over round yesterday to help maintain the team’s position atop the leaderboard. Finally, Reid Davenport posted a horrid seven-over after a two-over first round. Only the best four scores count, though, so as long as Sherwood and Sargent can maintain their top ten performances and Moll and Ott can play decently enough, the team should be in good shape. Should Vandy make it past the first cut, you can watch live coverage of the last few days of the championship on the Golf Channel Monday through Wednesday.