April 12, 2018
The fourth-ranked Vanderbilt Commodores’ men’s golf team will host 13 other teams this Friday through Sunday at the Mason Rudolph Championship on the Vanderbilt Legends Club’s South Course in Franklin, Tenn. This weekend will mark the 17th time the Commodores will host the event, which is named after Mason Rudolph, one of Middle Tennessee’s all-time great golfers and former head coach of the Commodores.
The event, slated for three rounds of 18 holes Friday through Sunday, will now move to a 36-hole, 8 a.m. shotgun format on Friday, with18 holes on Saturday and Sunday if weather permits.
“This is certainly an exciting week for our program,” said Vanderbilt head coach Scott Limbaugh. “Mason Rudolph left his mark all over Vanderbilt golf and the Tennessee golf community and it’s an honor to try to continue his legacy with this tournament. We have so many people at Vanderbilt and Legends Club that do so much to help us, so it’s fun to get to play in front of them. The boys in the program have loved the support we have received during this tournament the past few years and I am hopeful we can have that same type of support for them this weekend. It’s an opportunity for fans to walk right beside some of the best amateur golfers in the world and see what college golf is all about.”
The Commodores, the winners of two of the last three Mason Rudolph Championships, will be the highest-ranked team at the Mason Rudolph Championship, and will be joined by fellow top-10 teams No. 6 Florida and No. 7 Alabama. Also in the field this weekend is Ball State, Charlotte, East Tennessee State, Georgia, High Point, Liberty, Louisville, Middle Tennessee, South Dakota, Tennessee Tech and Troy. Vanderbilt will also place a group of individuals in the field playing as a “B” team.
The tournament will also feature nine of the top 100 players in the nation, including sixth-ranked Theo Humphrey, No. 20 Will Gordon and No. 37 Patrick Martin of Vanderbilt, No. 15 Lee Hodges and No. 17 Davis Riley of Alabama, No. 36 Gordon Neale, No. 68 Alejandro Tosti, and No. 99 Andy Zhang of Florida, and No. 52 Spencer Ralston of Georgia.
Competing for Vanderbilt this weekend is senior Theo Humphrey, juniors Will Gordon and Patrick Martin, sophomore John Augenstein, and redshirt freshman Mason Greenberg. Vanderbilt’s “B” team will consist of freshmen Harrison Ott, Cooper Sears, and Luke Zieman, senior Michael Decker and redshirt sophomore Andrew Jacobe.
“It’s been a few weeks since we competed last so I know we are eager to get out there and play again,” said Limbaugh. “We have spent some time focusing on doing the simple things better and more consistently than what we have been doing. That’s the reality as we enter our final regular season tournament. If we want to be a great team, then we have to do the simple things better. I know that I am very excited to see us play again and see if this team can take another step in the right direction. There are a lot of extra distractions when you play at home so we definitely have to have our focus on the right things.”
