NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt’s highly-anticipated 2022-23 season begins when the Commodores tee off at the Frederica Cup on the Georgia coast.
One of eight teams in an elite field, Vandy will officially begin the road to Grayhawk at 6:30 a.m. CT Wednesday at the Frederica Golf Club on Saint Simons Island.
“We have had a good 10 days or so to begin training and getting into a good routine,” Vanderbilt head coach Scott Limbaugh said. “I think we have a lot of depth with a nice blend of mature, experienced guys and some really talented young guys. Now how all of that comes together is ultimately going to define the identity of this team.
“We are always trying to help the guys understand how to be more consistent in everything they do because consistency builds trust. That really happens by creating great habits and stacking up as many wins as we can each day which also helps build confidence. We all made a choice to be here, which means you chose to operate on the edge of greatness. Greatness is what we are trying to pursue.”
Vanderbilt, which advanced to the semifinals at the NCAA Championships in May, returns four of the five golfers who were part of the best season in program history in 2021-22. That group includes defending individual national champion Gordon Sargent.
Sargent, Cole Sherwood, Reid Davenport, William Moll, Matthew Riedel and Jansen Preston will represent Vandy this week in Georgia at the two-day, 54-hole tournament. Five scores out of six will be counted on the par 72, 7,309-yard course. The Commodores will be up against Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi State, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Texas Christian and Texas Tech.
“We are so thankful that Frederica Golf Club stepped up and welcomed our group with open arms. It gives our guys a great opportunity to play against a great field on a championship venue and will help us see where we are as this new journey begins,” Limbaugh said. “It’s going to be a fun event and we are pumped to get the season started. I think the guys are looking forward to starting to create this team’s identity.
“It’s time for us to put our head downs and go play and have fun seeing what type of team we can become. Everything we want is in front of us so we have to keep looking forward and go compete to our standards.”
Live scoring for this week’s event can be found HERE.
Gordon Gets it Done
Former Vanderbilt standout Will Gordon will be on the PGA Tour next season.
The 26-year-old earned the top spot in the combined points list which combined regular-season and the finals events on the Korn Ferry Tour. Gordon now has full status on the PGA Tour and is eligible to play in The Players Championship and U.S. Open in 2023.
Gordon, who won the Boise Open in August, was the SEC Player of the Year as a senior at Vanderbilt in 2019.
Preseason All-Americans
Gulfweek released its 2022-23 preseason All-Americans earlier this week and three Commodores made the cut.
Sargent and Sherwood were both named to the First Team while Davenport was named Second Team. Sargent is the defending individual national champion, Sherwood was a Haskins Award and Jack Nicklaus Award finalist last season and Davenport, who returned for a fifth season in black and gold, and was a Second-Team All-American in 2021-22.
Sargent Competes With World’s Best
To end his long and successful summer, Sargent competed at the World Amateur Team Championship in Paris, France, from Aug. 31-Sept. 3.
Sargent tied for 36th individually at 3-under-par at the four-day, 72-hole tournament. He and Team USA came in third, just four strokes back of champion Italy.
The event was held at at Le Golf National (Albatros Course) and Golf de Saint-Nom-La-Breteche (Red Course).
Ranked at the Top
Vanderbilt will begin the 2022-23 season considering one of the best teams in the nation.
Gulfweek released its preseason poll earlier this week and had Vandy atop its list ahead of North Carolina. The Golf Channel ranked the Commodores second behind North Carolina in its preseason rankings.
The Golf Coaches Association of America has yet to release its poll for the preseason.
Going Global
The Vanderbilt golf program was recently featured in Global Golf Post.
Limbaugh and the Commodores were highlighted for, not only their success on the course, but in the classroom as well.
“We don’t apologize for (focusing on academics,” Limbaugh told the Post. “Therefore, not everybody is interested in coming here. We’re in a great conference, but our education just sets us apart from all of our competition.”
To read the entire piece, click HERE.
