New, Tough Schedule Awaits

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Vanderbilt men’s golf program and head coach Scott Limbaugh officially announced the 2021-22 schedule Monday.

“I am so happy our guys will get to go back to play some of these wonderful golf tournaments on some of the best courses in the world,” Limbaugh said. “I think we have learned not to take these opportunities for granted and obviously to appreciate them at a higher level based on last season’s circumstances.”

The Commodores, the defending SEC champions who also won the program’s first NCAA Regional in May and advanced to match play at the NCAA Championships in June, face a rigorous slate that begins with five tournaments during the fall.

Vandy will make it’s ’21-22 debut Sept. 3-5 at the Carmel Cup at the Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California. The Dores last played that event in 2019.

From there Vanderbilt will return home to head to the eastern part of the state to compete in the Scenic City Challenge (Sept. 21-22) in Ooltewah before going to Texas for the Colonial Collegiate Cup (Oct. 4-5) and to North Carolina for the Carolina Cup (Oct. 25-26) in October.

The Commodores will also take part in the new SEC Match Play Championship (Oct. 10-12) in Birmingham, Alabama, at Shoal Creek.

“Our fall will be loaded with tournaments on some familiar courses and also some new challenges,” Limbaugh said. “We will open our season once again at Pebble Beach on Labor Day weekend. We follow that up with a trip to The Honors which should be fun and hopefully give our guys a chance to play in front of a lot of our fans.

“We will then head back to one of our favorite courses in Colonial Country Club against another outstanding field. A new event, SEC Match Play, will be held at Shoal Creek in Birmingham which should be a great new experience for us.  We will end our fall in Wilmington at Eagle Point which is a really awesome course.”

After taking December and January off, Vandy will be right back at it toward the end of February when it heads to The Prestige (Feb. 21-23) in La Quinta, California. The team will remain on the west coast to compete in the Cabo Collegiate (Feb. 27-March 1) in Los Cabos, Mexico.

Vanderbilt finished third in a 15-team field at the 2019 Cabo Collegiate.

After about a three-week break, the Dores will head to Georgia to take part in the Linger Longer Invitational (March 20-22). Vanderbilt’s always-popular Mason Rudolph Championship returns April 1-3 at the Vanderbilt Legends Club in Franklin.

“Our spring will look a little different as we continue to give our student-athletes the best experience possible,” Limbaugh said. “We will head out to La Quinta to open up at The Prestige which will offer us a tough test in good weather against a strong field. Then we will head down to the Cabo Collegiate which is always one of the best events of the year. 

“We added the Linger Longer Invitational at Great Waters this spring which will be a good event for us as we start turning our attention to the postseason. We will once again finish up or spring at home in the Mason Rudolph Championship at Vanderbilt Legends Club.” 

The 2022 SEC Championships are scheduled for April 20-24 – on St. Simons Island, Georgia — while NCAA Regionals are scheduled for May 16-18. The NCAA Championships will take place May 27-June 1 once again in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Vanderbilt returns seniors Harrison Ott, Reid Davenport and Michael Shears, juniors William Moll and Matthew Riedel and sophomores Cole Sherwood and Jansen Preston while welcoming the addition of newcomers Jackson Van Paris and Gordon Sargent to the 2021-22 roster.

“We are excited to start a new season with a new team,” Limbaugh said. “The coaching staff has a clean-slate mentality each year and we are pumped to see what will happen with this year’s team.

“For me it’s about seeing who can stay focused on the here and the now and not assume things will be easy. It’s about leadership and having guys that can stay in the moment and want to invest in their games and into each other. We can’t wait to get started and to see what we can become.”