Swinging Into Summer: Men’s Golf Goes to Regionals

The men’s team, fresh off a disappointing loss at the SEC Championships, is teeing off at Auburn University Club for NCAA Regionals this morning. I just recently did a review of the season for the lead-in to the SEC Championship, but a few things have happened since then (aside from losing the SEC Championship, obviously), and a lot of it has to do with our number one player, Gordon Sargent. He has been named a member of the U.S. Palmer Cup Team, a Ben Hogan Award Semifinalist, and the SEC Player of the Year. Supposedly, this guy is pretty good at golf (good enough that I guess I can forgive him for attending a rival high school) and he will quite surely be leading the charge at the national championship where he’ll be looking to defend his individual title from last year. In bad news, Associate Head Coach Gator Todd has been hired away by Kentucky (I know, I know, I was sad Florida didn’t hire him either) after an incredible six seasons. I’m sure the search for his replacement has already begun somewhere deep in the halls of McGugin.

Looking ahead to this week’s competition, I don’t think there’s much to say. We are the near-unanimous number one team in the country, up against (by Golfstat’s Team Ranking) No. 12 Orange School, No. 12 Auburn University, No. 24 Colorado State, No. 25 Ohio State, No. 36 Washington, No. 37 TCU, No. 48 Chattanooga, No. 49 Houston, No. 60 Marquette, No. 62 Indiana, No. 125 Augusta, and No. 234 Siena. We just have to place in the top five teams to advance to the finals at, you guessed it, Grayhawk Golf Club. I feel rather confident about our chances given we, the best team in the country, theoretically just need to play at least one stroke better than Washington, the thirty-sixth team in the country. The great thing about this regional is we also get to root against so many horrid teams like THEM, Auburn, Colorado State (trust me, this is one of the worst fanbases in college sports), THE Ohio State, and I assume Houston, since all Houston sports fans are horribly obnoxious people who deserve to have all championships stripped away in all sports. Us winning would be great, though.

I hope you’ll join me in following along with the live scoring and @VandyMGolf as we keep this season going.