April 7, 2018
The Vanderbilt women’s golf team opens play Sunday at the Brickyard Collegiate in Georgia looking to build momentum heading into the Southeastern Conference Championships.
The Commodores, coming off a strong finish at the Clemson Invitational in their most recent competition, are first-time participants in the Brickyard Collegiate, a 54-hole tournament staged at Brickyard Golf Club near Macon, Ga.
Vanderbilt head coach Greg Allen wants to see his squad improve off the fourth-place finish at Clemson.
“I love playing golf in April and May. This is when collegiate golf really becomes a lot of fun,” Allen said. “We’re looking at the Brickyard as a chance to continue getting better and gain more momentum as we head into SECs.”
The Brickyard Collegiate drew a field of 15 teams, including four ranked among the nation’s top-50 squads. Besides the Commodores, ranked 25th by GolfWeek, the Brickyard features No. 32 Florida State, No. 44 LSU and No. 46 Kennesaw State, along with Virginia Tech, Old Dominion and tournament-host Mercer.
The Commodores will send out Abbey Carlson, Courtney Zeng, Morgan Baxendale, Virginia Green and Louise Yu to play the par-72, 6,155-yard Brickyard layout.
“Our expectations will be the same as always â€â€Ŕ play hard, have a good attitude and hit committed, courageous and confident golf shots,” Allen added.
Allen’s Commodores have returned to national prominence this year utilizing one of the youngest rosters in women’s collegiate golf. Vanderbilt is one of 12 teams nationally that feature three freshmen in its starting lineup. Among those 12, the Commodores’ freshman trio of Baxendale, Green and Yu rank No. 1 in Golfstat’s relative strength index that focuses on results by first-year collegiate players.
Carlson, a sophomore from Circle Christian School near Orlando, has been Vanderbilt’s most consistent performer this season. Ranked No. 81 nationally, Carlson is coming off a two-under 214 total at the Clemson Invitational, highlighted by an impressive closing-round of four-under 68.
Zeng, a junior from the First Academy in Orlando, and Green, from Fairhope (Ala.) H.S., were top-25 individual finishes at Clemson with one-over totals of 217.
Baxendale, also from the First Academy in Orlando, and Yu, a product of Peachtree Ridge H.S. in Duluth, Ga., were just behind Zeng and Green at the Clemson tournament.
Live scoring for the Brickyard Collegiate is available at birdiefire.com.
