ATLANTA – The Commodores’ stellar fall continued Monday at the East Lake Cup in Atlanta, Ga., with Vanderbilt claiming the number one seed in the team portion of the four-team tournament after posting a six-under par, 202, to win by five strokes over second-place Texas at the East Lake Golf Club. The Commodores will take on defending national champion Oregon Tuesday in the first round of match play, with the match beginning at 12:55 ET off of the number one tee.
Vanderbilt carded 19 birdies from their counting four scores on Monday, with sophomore Will Gordon leading the way with a four-under par, 68. The sophomore from Davidson, N.C. poured in six birdies in his first 18 holes around the par-72, 7,450-yard East Lake Club. The Commodores also counted a pair of one-under par, 71’s, from junior Theo Humphrey and Patrick Martin, and an even-par 72 from senior Matthias Schwab. Freshman John Augenstein finished his round with a one-over par, 73.
Gordon finished in a tie for second individually, Martin and Humphrey finished in a tie for sixth, Schwab finished ninth, and Augenstein 10th.
“We talked last night that it was going to be a one-round shootout and thought it would be very important to have all five guys in there,” said Vanderbilt head coach Scott Limbaugh. “I was really proud of John. He was over par early on and was kind of emotional, but he really settled down and from number seven on, he played at one-under par, which I thought was good. I’m proud of Will today. That was big from him to get some momentum going and post a solid round.”
As has been the Commodore way for most of the season, Vanderbilt finished strong, counting four birdies in their last two holes. Schwab birdied 17 and 18, while Martin and Humphrey each added birdies on the par-five, 600-yard 18th.
“We played number 18 really well – Matthias birdied 17 and 18, and Theo and Patrick birdied 18,” said Limbaugh. “Those are big things to build momentum.”
The Commodores led the field in par-four scoring (+3, 4.06), par-five scoring (-12, 4.40), and tied for the team lead in birdies with Oregon with 21.
Vanderbilt will be matched up against the Ducks, who finished fourth in team play Monday. Pairings for Monday look like this:
John Augenstein (Vandy) VS E Yi (Oregon)
Theo Humphrey (Vandy) VS R Gronlund (Oregon)
Will Gordon (Vandy) VS W Clark (Oregon)
Patrick Martin (Vandy) VS N Lett (Oregon)
Matthias Schwab (Vandy) VS S Raza (Oregon)
“Today is over,” said Limbaugh. “And for us, heading into match play, we’re obviously playing a really good match play team with a lot of positive thoughts about match play. We’ll just tell our guys that each man needs to do their job and don’t expect anyone else to do the job that they could do themselves. Match play is just man-on-man, understanding what you do when you play well and getting some momentum and keeping it. Those are the teams that have success in match play.”
Live coverage of the tournament will begin at 2 p.m. CT from East Lake on the Golf Channel. Live stats can be found on Golfstat.com.
1. Vanderbilt – 282
T2. Will Gordon – 68
T6. Patrick Martin – 71
T6. Theo Humphrey – 71
9. Matthias Schwab – 72
10. John Augenstein – 73
