FORT WORTH, Texas — Vanderbilt played two strokes better during Monday’s second round of the Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational, but a sluggish start has the Commodores 14 strokes back of first going into Tuesday’s final round at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas.
Vandy was 2-under-par during the second round to edge up the leaderboard into a tie for seventh place overall. North Carolina’s 8-under-par afternoon catapulted the Tar Heels (-10) into first place, four shots ahead of Stanford (-6).
The Commodores started the day with a 6-over-par 286.
“It was one of those days where it felt like we never had a ton of momentum,” Vandy head coach Scott Limbaugh said. “We started on some hard holes early and just kind of played from behind.”
Gordon Sargent led the Dores in the second round by carding a 66. The sophomore rose into the top 10 and is at 2-under-par for the tournament.
Matthew Riedel, fresh off a stroke play win at SEC Match Play, is even par after 36 holes and alone in 22nd. Cole Sherwood (+2) is tied for 29th, William Moll (+4) is tied for 42nd and Reid Davenport (+13) is 79th.
“Cole and Matthew kind of held us in there this morning,” Limbaugh said. “Matthew played solid all day and really drove it well. Gordon played a big round this afternoon and did a great job hanging in there emotionally and lifting the team up.
“I am really proud of how we fought all day long and certainly excited to see William respond the way he did in the afternoon. Reid had a tough day, but we all believe in him and we know he will be there tomorrow. There’s so much to learn when things don’t go just right and I like what I learned this afternoon.”
Vandy got off to a solid start through its first nine holes Monday morning before finding things a bit more difficult after the turn. Eleven bogeys and a double bogey on the back nine dropped the Commodores to six-over-par for the tournament.
Sherwood and Riedel got off to a strong start by each firing a 69 through 18 holes. That duo was tied for sixth overall going into the second round.
Vanderbilt is scheduled to tee off at 8 a.m. Tuesday alongside Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech. Live scoring for the final round can be found HERE.
“Tuesday is an important day and we need to embrace that. I know we can be better if we approach the day with enthusiasm,” Limbaugh said. “We made a commitment as a team to give this two-week stretch everything we had and Tuesday is the final opportunity. We can be better if we continue to have high demands for ourselves and each other and have some fun playing Vandy golf.
“It’s going to take all five guys showing some consistency in their approaches and scratching and fighting for what we want to stand for as a team.”
