NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Commodores return to the course this week for their final road tournament of the 2022-23 regular season.
Vandy is scheduled to tee off Sunday at the Calusa Cup in scenic Naples, Florida. The Iowa-hosted event includes 54 holes over three days.
Vanderbilt head coach Scott Limbaugh and his team will be competing with heavy hearts.
“First and foremost, our hearts go out to the Covenant School shooting victims and all of those affected by this terrible tragedy,” Limbaugh said. “(Vanderbilt women’s head coach) Greg Allen and I were especially close to Chris Peak who lost his wife, Cindy, on Monday. We share their family’s grief.
“We continue to remember and reflect on what is most precious in our lives, all while doing our best to support one another in the aftermath of the tragic loss that was suffered. It has most certainly been a challenging week.”
Vandy’s ’22-23 campaign has been the most-successful in program history to this point. No team prior to this season’s Dores had won five regular-season events—Vanderbilt has wins at the Frederica Cup, East Lake Cup, John Hayt Invitational, Watersound Invitational and Cabo Collegiate.
The Commodores are coming off a third-place finish at the Linger Longer Invitational in March. This week they’ll be without Gordon Sargent as the sophomore competes in the Masters Tournament.
“I think our guys seem really enthusiastic to have the opportunity to play in this event at Calusa Pines. We are thankful to their membership for allowing us to play at such a prestigious place,” Limbaugh said. “Obviously, we will be without Gordon this week and I am so excited to see who will step up and lift the team up with their play. We don’t need anyone to try to be more or do more, but we have to have everyone focusing a little tighter on what they can control.
“In my opinion, we have full control over our attitudes, routines, body language, thought process and commitment levels and I expect those to all be better than they were last week. It’s about seeing opportunity and understanding we are playing a championship course that will require discipline and resiliency. Those are things that are requirements for postseason play so it’s great to continue to learn those things about our team.”
Cole Sherwood, Matthew Riedel, William Moll, Reid Davenport and Wells Williams will be wearing the black and gold at the par 72 Calusa Pines Golf Club. The 7,320-yard course will see Vandy, Texas Tech, North Carolina, Arizona State, Ohio State, Georgia, Wake Forest, Purdue and Iowa take part in the event.
The Commodores are scheduled to tee off at 11:45 a.m. CT Sunday alongside Ohio State and Purdue.
After the Calusa, VU will return home to host its annual Mason Rudolph Championship at the Vanderbilt Legends Club from April 10-12. Postseason play begins April 19-23 at the SEC Championships.
Live scoring for this week’s tournament can be found HERE.
