ST ANDREWS, Scotland – The No. 4-ranked Vanderbilt men’s golf team ended the opening day of the St Andrews Links Collegiate in a tie for first place, as the Commodores carded 7-under 343 during the first round of stroke play.
The Dores got off to a fast start on St Andrews’ Jubilee Course, as Vanderbilt sat at 13-under at the turn. The Commodores battled harsh elements on the back nine but stayed atop the team leaderboard, as Vandy ended the first round of stroke play at 7-under 343. Vanderbilt heads into Tuesday’s second round tied with No. 1 North Carolina for first place.
Junior Jackson Van Paris heads into the second round of stroke play in first place on the player leaderboard. The Pinehurst, North Carolina, native carded 6-under 64 during his first go-around the Jubilee Course. Van Paris leads the field in Par-4 scoring at -4 and has collected a tournament-best seven birdies.
“It was fun to finally get out there and compete today after a few days of practice,” said Vanderbilt men’s golf head coach Scott Limbaugh. “I was proud to see the fast start we got off to on the front nine. You always need people stepping up and today that was Jackson. “He gave us a huge round and really did a great job sticking with his plan and making momentum putts. I was also proud of Ben and the way he hung in there to finish well on the difficult closing stretch here. We lost a little momentum with a couple of three putts and poor tee shots, and we will need to clean that up the next couple of days.”
Senior Cole Sherwood, who is coming off a win at the Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational, also sits in the top 10, ending Round 1 at 2-under 68 to put him in a tie for sixth. All-Americans Matthew Riedel and William Moll are tied for 11th after 18 holes of stroke play, as each Vandy golfer finished at even par 70. Sophomore Ben Loomis rounded out the team scoring for Vanderbilt in the first round of the St Andrews Links Collegiate, as he carded 1-over 71 to finish the day in 15th on the player leaderboard.
“This format requires having all six guys being mentally tough and resilient,” stated Limbaugh. “We will need that again tomorrow. We take a lot of pride in finishing strong and we have to continue to stay locked in for the entire round. I can’t wait to see our guys get out there again tomorrow and continue to see who steps up.”
Round 2 of the St Andrews Links Collegiate gets underway on Tuesday. The Commodores tee off at 4:42 a.m. CT. NBC Golf Channel and Peacock will air live coverage of the St Andrews Links Collegiate this Tuesday starting at 8 a.m. CT. Fans can also follow along via live scoring at GolfStat.com.
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