NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt will take center stage this week when the Commodores tee off in the prestigious East Lake Cup at the East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.
Vandy qualified for the event by virtue of advancing to the semifinals of the NCAA Championships last May in Scottsdale, Arizona. The Dores, Pepperdine, Arizona State and defending national champion Texas comprise the stacked four-team field.
“Being a part of the East Lake Cup is really special for our program and student-athletes,” Vanderbilt head coach Scott Limbaugh said. “Everything that East Lake stands for in terms of support for the community, giving to others and promoting the game are all really great things. We are proud to be able to play in this setting.”
While the event is televised live by the Golf Channel starting at 2 p.m. CT each day, Vandy will look to play some of its best golf starting at 10:55 a.m. CT Monday when all four teams compete in 18 holes of stroke play. The stroke play standings will determine the match play bracket with play in that portion of the event beginning at 10:05 a.m. Tuesday.
Should the Commodores win their match Tuesday, they would qualify for the championship match starting at 11:55 a.m. CT Wednesday. The event’s consolation match is scheduled for 10:15 a.m. CT Wednesday.
The quintet of Gordon Sargent, Cole Sherwood, Matthew Riedel, William Moll and Reid Davenport will be in the black and gold this week. Vandy will be looking to finish its fall season strong after winning the Frederica Cup, finishing second at SEC Match Play and coming in fifth at the Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational.
“We’ve had a great couple of weeks of preparations and it’s exciting for me to see several of our guys stepping up and pushing each other to be better,” Limbaugh said. “I know the guys are thrilled to play a championship course against great competition and really try to finish our fall season the right way. Now the focus needs to be on having fun and competing to our standards.
“As a great competitor, you cannot play for outside forces. Instead, you have to stay disciplined to one or two things that you truly believe will help you be successful. That has been my challenge to them and letting them know how much I believe in each one of them.”
Vanderbilt last competed in the East Lake Cup in 2019 when it finished fourth in stroke play and lost to Texas in the match play semifinals.
Live scoring for this week’s event can be found here.
“We sure would greatly appreciate having our Vandy fans out there cheering on our team in our final tournament of the fall,” Limbaugh said.