May 3, 2017
The Southeastern Conference handed out their all-conference hardware on Wednesday afternoon, and the Commodores were front and center in the selections honoring the best in the league in 2016-17. Vanderbilt head coach Scott Limbaugh won the program’s first SEC Coach of the Year honor and freshman John Augenstein was named the league’s Freshman of the Year, while Patrick Martin and Matthias Schwab were named to the All-SEC First Team and Theo Humphrey was named to the All-SEC Second Team for their accolades this season.
Limbaugh, in his fifth season, led the Commodores to their first ever SEC Championship and has led Vanderbilt to 12 team titles in his tenure, with the Commodores capturing two titles this season – at the Nike Golf Collegiate and the SEC Championship – and finishing runner-up at the Tavistock Collegate. 
The Commodores also won the stroke-play portion of the East Lake Cup in Atlanta, Ga., to close out the fall season. The award is the first by a Vanderbilt coach.
Augenstein, from Owensboro, Ky. who was also named to the SEC All-Freshman team, has quickly emerged on the collegiate scene after playing in every round of the Commodores’ season in 2016-17. Augenstein has tied Matthias Schwab and Theo Humphrey for the lowest round of the season with a 66 in the first round of the Nike Golf Collegiate at Colonial Country Club, while also posting a career-best fifth-place finish at the tournament. 
He also carded a top 20 (T-17) finish at the Tavistock Collegiate. In the final two matches at the SEC Championship in Sea Island, Augenstein clinched both matches against Florida and Texas A&M. Augenstein is the first Commodore player to earn SEC Freshman of the Year honors.
Schwab and Martin become the Commodores’ 11th and 12th selections to the All-SEC First Team, respectively. The 2016-17 campaign marks Schwab’s third consecutive year he has been on the All-SEC First Team, becoming only the second Vanderbilt player (Luke List) to accomplish the feat. Schwab has finished in the top 12 in seven of eight tournaments he has played this year, with his best finish coming as a runner-up finish at the Tavistock Collegiate. For his career, the senior from Rohrmoos, Austria, has 11 top-five finishes and 16 top-10 finishes.
Martin, who made the All-SEC Second team and All-Freshman team a year ago, leads the team in stroke average with a 69.68 stroke average, which is the second-best in program history. He has captured one individual title at the Schenkel Invitational and finished runner-up at the SEC Championship in Sea Island. Martin also has not finished worse than a tie for 21st all year, and has finished in the top 15 in seven events this season.
Humphrey, a junior from Greenwich, Conn., was named to the All-SEC Second Team for the second time of his career – he also made the second team as a freshman in 2015. Humphrey has averaged 70.52 strokes per round and has posted four top five finishes and six inside the top 12. He finished tied for second at The All-American in Houston and tied for third at Vanderbilt’s home event, The Mason Rudolph Championship.
2017 marks the third consecutive season Vanderbilt has had three or more players on the All-SEC Team and since Limbaugh’s arrival, the Commodores have landed 13 players on All-SEC teams. Prior to 2012-13, Vanderbilt had placed only 10 players on All-SEC teams.
The Commodores will learn their NCAA Regional site destination on Thursday morning at 11 a.m. CT on the Golf Channel.
Limbaugh to appear on The Golf Channel
Coach Limbaugh will appear on The Golf Channel for the NCAA selection show on Thursday at 11 a.m. CT as the Commodores learn where they will be playing for the NCAA Regionals.
Humphrey, Martin, and Schwab named Nicklaus Award Semifinalists
Theo Humphrey, Patrick Martin, and Matthias Schwab have been named three of 30 semifinalists for the Jack Nicklaus Award, which is given to the top collegiate Division 1 golfer. Division I finalists for the award will be named May 25. Nicklaus Award recipients will be announced June 1 with the honor presented by Jack Nicklaus at a ceremony during the final round of the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide at Muirfield Village Golf Club. In addition to receiving the Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year Award, the five recipients will compete in the Barbasol Shootout for an exemption into the PGA TOUR’s Barbasol Championship, held July 20-23, at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Grand National in Opelika, Ala. The Barbasol Shootout will be held Saturday, June 3 at the storied Scioto Country Club in Columbus, Ohio – the same club where Jack Nicklaus first learned the game of golf as a young boy.
