May 6, 2018
Tallahassee Regional Scoring | 1st Round Tee Times
The No. 6-seeded Vanderbilt women’s golf team will begin its quest for the NCAA Championships early Monday when they tee off at the NCAA Tallahassee Regional.
The Commodores will be paired with No. 4 seed Washington and No. 5 seed Wake Forest at the Don Veller Seminole Golf Course, a par-72, 6,342-yard tract near the Florida State campus. Junior Courtney Zeng, the only Vanderbilt player with NCAA postseason experience, will be the first Commodore in competition with a tee time at 7 a.m. CT.
Joining Zeng in the Vanderbilt lineup is sophomore Abbey Carlson and three talented freshmen: Morgan Baxendale, Virginia Green and Louise Yu.
Head Coach Greg Allen, guiding his 10th Vanderbilt squad into the NCAAs in 11 years, is eager to see his squad in action. “We’re certainly excited to be here and ready to get started,” Allen said Sunday prior to the team’s practice round. “I believe this group has put in the work all season and will be up to the challenge.
“I really like the attitude of this team right now. They are relaxed, yet very determined and focused,” Allen added.
The Tallahassee Regional, one of four NCAA regional tournaments starting Monday, features 18 teams looking to advance to the NCAA Championships on May 18-23 at Oklahoma State University’s Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla. To advance, the Commodores will need to finish among the top six teams.
Joining the Commodores in Tallahassee are No. 1 seed Alabama, No. 2 Furman, No. 3 Arizona, Washington, Wake Forest, No. 7 Florida State, No. 8 Clemson, No. 9 Georgia, No. 10 Tennessee, No. 11 UNLV, No. 12 Kennesaw State, No. 13 Denver, No. 14 Coastal Carolina, No. 15 Missouri, No. 16 College of Charleston, No. 17 Richmond and No. 18 Albany.
Allen wants his Commodores to concentrate their attention to executing the team’s game plan for the next three days.
“There’s absolutely nothing we can do about the other 17 teams here so we will focus on what we can control and that’s how we think our way around the course, how we react to the situation, and the attitude and effort we put forward,” Allen said.
This spring, Baxendale, Carlson and Yu all sparked the Commodores to a team title at the Brickyard Collegiate in Macon, Ga., and a seventh-place finish at the ultra-tough Southeastern Conference Championship.
Baxendale, an Orlando product who claimed medalist honors at the Brickyard Collegiate and was the low Commodore individual at the conference tourney, earned Second-Team All-SEC and SEC All-Freshman honors last week. Yu, from Duluth, Ga., also claimed SEC All-Freshman recognition from the 14 league coaches.
Carlson, from Lake Mary, Fla., has two top-five finishes this season, including a tie for fourth at the Mason Rudolph Championships held at Vanderbilt’s Legends Club in September. She also is the team leader with a 73.26 stroke average.
Baxendale is playing the best golf of her short Vanderbilt career entering the Tallahassee Regional. She has been the Commodores’ low individual in three of the last four tournaments, including the win at Macon and a tie for 15th place at the SEC tourney.
Yu also is in superb form entering the regional. She has three top-20 individual performances, including a tie for seventh at the UCF Challenge and a tie for 19th at the SEC Championship.
Zeng, also from Orlando, is the most experienced Vanderbilt performer. She paced the Commodores at the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational last October and tied Carlson for low Commodore at the Battle at the Beach in Baja, Mexico last November.
Green, a freshman from Fairhope, Ala., has enjoyed superb tournaments in her first season. She was the low Commodore at the UCF Challenge, finishing in a tie for third place and earned a top-25 individual finish at the Clemson Invitational in March.
Vanderbilt at the NCAA Regionals
This will be Vanderbilt’s 19th regional appearance and the 11th under head coach Allen. The Commodores have played in an NCAA regional in 10 of 11 years under Allen and advanced to the NCAA Championships on eight previous occasions, most recently in 2013. The Commodores have captured regional titles in 2004 (Normal, Ill.) and 2014 (Tallahassee).
Two Commodore players have won medalist honors at NCAA Regionals: Jennifer Hahn in Tallahassee in 2014 and Jacqui Concolino in 2007 at Ann Arbor, Mich.
