ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – The Vanderbilt men’s golf team expanded its lead at the 2024 SEC Men’s Golf Championship on Thursday, as the Commodores carded 4-under 276 in Round 2.
Vandy came into the second day of the SEC Men’s Golf Championship leading by a stroke over second-place Georgia. The Dores extended their lead out to four strokes over the field after finishing Round 2 at 4-under. Vanderbilt goes into the final round of stroke play on Friday with a 36-hole total of 15-under 545. Vandy currently leads the tournament in par-4 scoring at 7-under, while the Commodores have collected 129 pars to pace the field.
“I’m really proud of the way we finished today, it says a lot about our competitive character,” said Vanderbilt men’s golf head coach Scott Limbaugh. “We hit a little bit of a bumpy patch early on. We talked about overcoming adversity and challenges, and I thought our guys did a great job of doing that today. We did a lot of good things, but I think there are a lot of areas where we can do better. I don’t think that we played quite at the same standard as we had in Round 1. However, I’m really proud of William Moll. He never really had any momentum all day, but then he found a way to make two birdies towards the end to finish off the round at par.”
For the second-straight round, each Vanderbilt golfer has carded par or better at the SEC Men’s Golf Championship. All five Commodores have shot under par through 36 holes of play on the Seaside Course at Sea Island Golf Club.
Senior Cole Sherwood finished Thursday’s round at 1-under 69. He heads into the final day of stroke play in a tie for third place, leading the Commodores at 5-under 135. The All-American is tied for the tournament lead in pars, as he has collected 29 through 36 holes of play.
Junior Gordon Sargent and graduate student Matthew Riedel are both inside the top 10 on the player leaderboard through two rounds, as they are tied for eighth at 4-under 136. Sargent paced the Dores on Thursday, as the All-American carded a team-best 2-under 68 in Round 2. Riedel was one stroke behind Sargent at 1-under 69. Meanwhile, graduate student William Moll and Jackson Van Paris each finished at even par in Round 2. Van Paris heads into Friday in a tie for 18th on the player leaderboard at 2-under 138, while Moll is tied for 20th with a two-round score of 1-under 139.
The final round of stroke play at the 2024 SEC Men’s Golf Championship takes place Friday at Sea Island Golf Club in St. Simons Island, Georgia. Vanderbilt heads into Round 3 with a four-stroke lead over Georgia and Florida, who are tied for second, while the Dores hold a five-stroke lead over fourth-place Auburn and a six-stroke advantage over fifth-place Tennessee. The top eight teams in stroke play advance to match play. Auburn’s Jackson Koivun sits in first place on the player leaderboard at 8-under 132, as he holds a one-stroke lead over Florida’s Jack Turner.
Vanderbilt opens Round 3 of the 2024 SEC Men’s Golf Championship on Friday at 7 a.m. CT. A full list of pairings can be found by clicking the link here. Fans can follow Round 3 via live results at GolfStat.com.
“We want to finish strong, because how you play in the final round really affects the way you play for the rest of the week,” expressed Limbaugh. “We’re going to take it one day at a time, one shot at a time, just like always but I’m excited to see how we play tomorrow. It’s a really important day, and we need to embrace that.”
For more information on the Vanderbilt men’s golf team, follow @VandyMGolf on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter/X.
