BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Vanderbilt men’s golf team finished the 54-hole Shoal Creek Invitational hosted by Graeme McDowell in third place with a final team score of 867 (292-283-292) on Tuesday at the Shoal Creek Country Club in Birmingham, with senior Patrick Martin leading the way with a seventh-place individual finish and a total of one-under par, 215 (74-71-70).
Vanderbilt finished 11 shots behind team champion Texas A&M, who was the only team under par with a score of eight-under par, 856 (288-277-291) and two shots behind second-place North Florida.
The Commodores, who had to finish their second round Tuesday because of thunderstorms on Monday afternoon, carded the low round of the tournament in the second round with a five-under, 283 behind a six-under par 66 from senior Will Gordon, which tied for the low individual round of the event. In the third round, Vanderbilt shot a four-over 292, and counted a two-under par 70 from Martin and sophomore Harrison Ott, and a pair of 76’s from Gordon and junior John Augenstein.
For the tournament, two other Commodores, Augenstein (T-15) and Ott (T-18) also finished in the top 20, while Gordon finished in 26th and freshman Michael Shears in a tie for 69th. Redshirt sophomore Mason Greenberg, playing as an individual, finished the tournament in a tie for seventh with a final total of one-under par, 215 (76-70-69).
“I am real encouraged by some things that happened today,” said Vanderbilt head coach Scott Limbaugh. “We came out this morning and finished round two pretty well. Then we got off to a good start in round three, but made some mistakes that really killed our momentum. The boys competed and showed a lot of character and pride I thought. Harrison had a really solid round and did a good job keeping momentum when he had it which was big and allowed him to finish strong. Patrick played a lot closer to his potential this week, which was good to see. Mason had his best finish of his career and competed very well.”
Vanderbilt will have a short layoff before heading to Fort Worth, Texas for the Nike Collegiate Invitational, which takes place September 30-October 2 at world-renown Colonial Country Club.
“College golf is all about how you improve week to week and tournament to tournament,” said Limbaugh. “There were a lot of positives this week and also a lot of correctable mistakes. We have to give ourselves honest evaluations of our games and own the mistakes that we are consistently making. I am glad that we get the opportunity to compete again soon and try to be a little better in some areas than we were this week. I believe in this group and we have to work to play with more consistency.”
3. Vanderbilt – 292-283-292=867
T7. Patrick Martin – 74-71-70=215
T7. Mason Greenberg – 76-70-69=215*
T14. John Augenstein – 70-71-76=217
T18. Harrison Ott – 73-75-70=218
26. Will Gordon – 78-66-76=220
T71. Michael Shears – 75-78-79=232
* Played as an individual
