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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — The Vanderbilt men’s golf team finished in a tie for second at the John Hayt Collegiate Invitational, led by sophomore Jon Curran’s second-place individual performance.
The Commodores entered the day in third place and gained a stroke on Coastal Carolina to cause the second-place deadlock. Alabama won the event by 10 strokes after posting the only under-par team score of the day.
“It’s a great feeling for our guys to go toe-to-toe for the first time this Spring with teams like UCLA, Tennessee and Alabama,” VU Head Coach Tom Shaw said. “We certainly held our own against a great field and even beat all but one of them.
UAB, UCF, UCLA and Georgia State sat in a four-way tie for fourth place, eight strokes back of the Commodores and Chanticleers. North Florida, Tennessee and Pepperdine rounded out the top 10. The 15-team field included 10 squads ranked in Golfweek’s most recent Top 50.
“Coming into the weekend there was a concern that, with the weather we’ve been having in Nashville, we might be a little rusty,” Shaw added. “The team performed well in its first event back and that will give them a boost of confidence.”
Individually, Curran finished only one stroke behind medalist Kevin Chappell of UCLA. Chappell posted a three-under 69 on Tuesday to edge the Commodore.
Coastal Carolina’s Dustin Johnson entered the final round with the lead, but dropped to third after posting a three-over 75. Alabama’s Gator Todd and UCF’s Greg Forest rounded out the top five.
Curran (73-71-71–215, -1) was the only player in the field of 78 to shoot under-par in more than one round.
“Jon had another great round,” Shaw said. “He was very solid today and had a chance to tie on the last hole. A 12-foot putt on the 18th missed just left, but he should be pleased happy with how he played this week.”
VU senior Luke List (75-71-76–222, +6) also finished in the tournament’s Top 10, adding another excellent performance to his impressive resume.
Junior Billy Whalen and sophomore Tyler Matthews both scored their low round of the tournament on Tuesday. Whalen rebounded from a double-bogey on the first hole to make it back to even-par 72 for the day, while Matthews carded a one-over 73 on Tuesday to shave eight strokes off his second round score.
The event featured 54 holes over three days on the Par 72, 6,805-yard layout of the Sawgrass Country Club’s Oceanside Course — the former home of the PGA Tour’s Tournament Players Championship.
The Commodores return to Nashville for two weeks before heading back to the Sunshine State, this time for the Seminole Intercollegiate at the Golden Eagle Country Club in Tallahassee, March 4-6.
Complete tournament information is available at:
http://unfospreys.cstv.com/sports/c-golf/06mbcc.html
Complete scoring from the event can be found at:
http://www.golfstatresults.com//public/index.cfm?tournament_id=978
Final Agate
John Hayt Collegiate Invitational
Sawgrass Country Club, Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
Par 72; 6,910 yards
Team To Par Scores
1. Alabama +17 303-291-287-881
T2. Vanderbilt +27 304-295-292–891
T2. Coastal Carolina +27 309-289-293–891
T4. UAB +35 312-293-294–899
T4. UCF +35 315-284-300–899
T4. UCLA +35 309-297-293–899
T4. Georgia State +35 305-297-297–899
8. North Florida +36 309-298-293–900
9. Tennessee +45 313-302-294–909
10. Pepperdine +46 311-309-290–910
11. Charlotte +47 307-305-299–911
12. South Carolina +49 311-311-291–913
T13. Notre Dame +56 311-314-295–920
T13. Augusta State +56 307-303-310–920
15. Louisiana State +57 310-303-308–921
Individual To Par Scores
1. Kevin Chappell, UCLA -2 72-73-69–214
2. Jon Curran, Vanderbilt -1 73-71-71–215
3. Dustin Johnson, Coastal Carolina E 73-68-75–216
4. Gator Todd, Alabama +1 75-73-69–217
5. Greg Forest, UCF +4 76-69-75–220
T6. Joel Sjoholm, Georgia State +5 77-72-72–221
T6. Matthew Swan, Alabama +5 75-75-71–221
T8. Luke List, Vanderbilt +6 75-71-76–222
T8. Mike Giammaresi, North Florida +6 75-73-74–222
T8. Colin Wilcox, Pepperdine +6 77-74-71–222
T25. Billy Whalen, Vanderbilt +10 78-76-72–226
T51. Tyler Matthews, Vanderbilt +16 78-81-73–232
T66. Dos Goldsmith, Vanderbilt +20 80-77-79–236
