SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Vanderbilt will play Monday.
The Commodores rallied Sunday with a second consecutive even-par round and made the cut at the NCAA Championships with at 13-over-par, 853 through 54 holes. Vandy will be one of 15 teams left standing Monday in the final round of stroke play.
The top eight teams after Monday’s round advance to Tuesday’s first day of match play.
“Starting Sunday the field gets cut in half after each round so we need to be thankful to have the opportunity to compete together again Monday,” Vanderbilt head coach Scott Limbaugh said. “There’s a lot of really good teams that won’t have that opportunity. Our guys are doing a good job committing to our plan and that’s what it will take Monday.
“We just need to play Vanderbilt golf and continue to play with courage, calmness, confidence and pride in performance. It will take all of us having the right competitive character and doing it together.”
Vandy is tied for sixth place overall after three rounds and was well ahead of the eventual cut line of 32-over-par. Oklahoma State (-12) has built a 13-shot margin over rival Oklahoma going into the final day while Oklahoma State’s Bo Jin is the individual leader at 9-under-par.
Vanderbilt will be joined by those two Big XII programs as well as Arizona State, Illinois, Florida State, Wake Forest, North Carolina, Pepperdine, Clemson, Sam Houston State, Louisville, Arkansas and Texas Tech in the final round of stroke play Monday. Georgia Tech defeated Texas Christian in a playoff for the final spot.
The Commodores are scheduled to tee off at 12:22 p.m. CT Monday on hole No. 1 alongside Illinois and Florida State.
Vandy was led Sunday by William Moll (tied for 99th) and Michael Shears (tied for 28th) who each shot a 1-under-par 69. Cole Sherwood and Reid Davenport (tied for 52nd) both battled to finish with a 1-over-par 71 and Matthew Riedel (tied for 41st) came in at 4-over-par.
Sherwood finished as the team’s top player after 54 holes at 1-over-par and is tied for 17th.
“I thought we got off to a fast start this morning and that was so important. The course is really demanding and it requires your full attention on every shot,” Limbaugh said. “It was great to see William get out first and play with some momentum. That took some resilience and courage and he has both of those.
“Michael continues to lift our team up with his play and his round today was really good and I’m proud of him. Reid was steady all day and he continues play at a high level. Cole did a great job hanging in there and got some momentum coming in and really made a nice par putt on the last. Matthew played better than he scored today and we know he will be there Monday.”
GOLF Channel will carry live coverage of the event beginning at 4 p.m. CT Monday. Live scoring for Monday’s round can be found HERE.
“We are so thankful for all the fans that have shown up this week and we really need their support going forward,” Limbaugh added.
