May 19, 2010
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Vanderbilt men’s golf team opens NCAA East Regional play on Thursday, May 20, at The Course at Yale. The Commodores are scheduled to tee off at 8:10 a.m. CT, leaving from the 10th tee with Penn State and UNC Wilmington.
Head Coach Tom Shaw has called on seniors Hudson Johnson and Chris Rockwell, junior Ryan Haselden and sophomores Trey DelGreco and Charlie Grace to compete this weekend as the Commodores make their third NCAA Regional appearance in the past four seasons.
Last May, Vanderbilt played in the NCAA Central Regional at The Club at Olde Stone in Bowling Green, Ky., finishing 10th. Before that appearance, the 2007 Commodores advanced through the West Regional in Tempe, Ariz., to the NCAA National Championships.
This season, the Commodores captured a tournament championship for the third consecutive year. Vanderbilt shared the team title at the 2010 Samford Invitational with the host school en route to an 83-59-1 head-to-head record this season.
Senior Hudson Johnson paced the Commodores with a 71.86 scoring average, good for seventh in the Southeastern Conference./
The Course at Yale is hosting an NCAA Regional for the fourth time, following appearances in 1991, 1995 and 2004. Coach Shaw played in a regional there in 1991 as a member of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
The 6,749-yard, par-70 layout at the Course At Yale is recognized as one of the finest examples of early American course design. Large, deeply bunkered greens and narrow rolling fairways are the core of Yale’s penalizing character. The course opened for play in 1926 and was designed under the supervision of Charles Blair Macdonald, co-founder of the USGA.
“It’s an awesome course,” VU senior Chris Rockwell said. “It’s like opening up a time capsule. It reminds me of Prestwick and the Old Course at St. Andrew. Our team took a trip there last summer, and we all thought the Yale course reminded us of the courses over there. Having played over there will help us here this week.”
Live scoring of the entire three-day, 54-hole event will be available by clicking here.