Day Two Stumble

BELLEAIR, Fla. — The links were unkind on Tuesday as Vanderbilt women’s golf slid to 15th at the SEC Championship with a 22-over-par second round at Pelican Golf Club.

The tough day saw the Commodores card just six birdies in the round. Ava Merrill’s 4-over 74 marked the best round for the black and gold. Lynn Lim and Angelina Tolentino each carded 5-over rounds while Sara Im and Tillie Claggett posted rounds of 78.

“Today was a day where you really want to have a short memory,” head coach Greg Allen said. “In fact, coach Meason used the Ted Lasso line and told them to be a goldfish. I’m not even sure what happened. With the exception of Tillie’s rough start, things were fine through our first eight holes and then disaster hit us on 18 and we never quite recovered.

“I thought the way we have played the front nine at Pelican yesterday and last year we would be able to get a few strokes back and not keep giving them away.”

Vanderbilt tumbled to 15th overall through 36 holes at 30-over for the tournament. The Dores are five strokes back of Missouri and six off Oklahoma. Vandy fell 23 strokes behind the match play cutline with the tough day.

“I told them after the round that as long as the good Lord blesses us with another opportunity to play golf tomorrow, I will not give up on them or lose hope because I have faith in their abilities and I know what this golf course can do to teams,” Allen added. “Now, we obviously need to play out of our minds and need a lot of help, but there is a chance. We at least want to get back to playing our kind of golf and build some momentum for regionals.”

Vanderbilt tees off in Wednesday’s final round of stroke play beginning at 9 a.m. ET/8 a.m. CT.