Dores Ready to Get to Work in the Desert

Commodores start national championship quest in Arizona

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — For the eighth time in as many opportunities, Vanderbilt will compete for a national championship starting Friday in Arizona.

The Commodores tee off at the NCAA Championships looking for the their first national title in program history. They’ll do so having won a program-record six tournament this season while being led by two Haskins Award finalists.

“We are excited to get this championship going,” Vanderbilt coach Scott Limbaugh said. “I think we’ve had a couple of good days of prep out here and now it’s time to go play. I want us to be a team that competes with pride, trusts each other and has some fun.

“I like this team a lot and now it’s about trusting the work we’ve put in, playing with discipline and focusing on the right things. That’s what championship golf is all about and having everyone believing this is our opportunity.”

Vandy, which is scheduled to hit off the No. 10 tee at 1:30 p.m. CT Friday, is making its 11th appearance at the NCAA Championships and second in a row at the Grayhawk Golf Club. Last season the Dores advanced to the match play portion of the event before falling to Oklahoma State in the quarterfinals.

This Friday the Commodores and Cowboys will reconvene – alongside Oklahoma – to play the first 36 holes of the event Friday and Saturday. Those three teams, who are scheduled to tee off together at 8:10 a.m. CT Saturday from the first tee, are ranked as the top-three programs in the nation this season.

Sunday’s tee times and pairings will be dictated by results after the first two rounds.

Cole Sherwood, Gordon Sargent, Reid Davenport, William Moll and Harrison Ott will represent the black and gold this week. Jackson Van Paris will be available as a substitute.

“What we always talk about is knowing we can’t skip any steps,” Limbaugh said. “It started last week at regionals and you just really got to lock-in. There’s a three-round step and a four-round step and if you’re fortunate to get to that final step of match play, then there’s step-by-step there.

“The teams that really can lock-in and be where their feet are, not look forward, just be fully present with what we’re doing each day, I really think those are the teams that have the most success.”

Played at the par 70, 7,289-yard Grayhawk Golf Club, the NCAA Championships features 72 holes of stroke play running Friday-Monday. The 30-team field will be cut down to 15 on Sunday and then down to eight going into Tuesday’s match-play portion of the tournament when squads will be seeded 1-8 based on their stroke play finish.

After the quarterfinals and semifinals are played Tuesday, the national championship match will tee off Wednesday. The GOLF Channel will provide live coverage of the event Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Live scoring can be found HERE.