The ninth-ranked Commodores will participate in their first tournament of the fall season this Sunday-Tuesday at the Cougar Classic in Charleston, S.C., with the event hosted by the College of Charleston and the Yeomens Hall Club.
Vanderbilt returns a number of players from last year’s NCAA Championship starting squad, a school-best third straight championship appearance, that finished 11th. Senior Lauren Stratton, a NGCA first-team All-American in 2012 and the winner of the Tennessee Open and Tennessee Amateur this summer, is back to lead the Commodores. Sophomore Kendall Martindale, who has also won the “double” (Tennessee Amateur and Open) in her career, is also poised for a strong campaign.
The Cougar Classic presents a very strong field for the Commodores, with the top five teams and 10 of the top 15 teams from the 2012 NCAA Championship in attendance this weekend. Alabama, Auburn, College of Charleston, Charleston Southern, Duke, Florida, Furman, Georgia, LSU, Maryland, Miami, Mississippi, North Carolina, N.C. State, Penn State, South Carolina, Tennessee, UCF, UNCG, Wake Forest, USC, Virginia and Wisconsin will join the Commodores in Charleston.
Eighteen holes will be played each day, with the course set up as a par-72, 6,219-yard set-up.
The Commodores will send Stratton, Martindale, freshman Jenny Hahn, sophomore Irina Gabasa, and junior Rene Sobolewski.
Vanderbilt head coach Greg Allen, who is entering his sixth season with the Commodores, talked about the upcoming tournament and season. Allen is confident that his 2012-13 team can be right in the thick of things at the end of the season.
How excited are you to get the season started?
Like every year, I start off really fired up for the season and I’m ready to go. When you have a team like we have, it makes it even more exciting because we have a chance to be great.
Talk about the summer your team had.
Lauren and Kendall had great summers. They went out and competed a lot – they competed with each other, and they competed against each other. Stratty winning the Tennessee State Open and the Tennessee State Amateur was only the third person to win both in the history of the two events. Kendall won both of them last year, and then Sarah Jacobs did it back in her playing days at Vanderbilt. It’s pretty cool that it’s happened three times and all three have been Vanderbilt players.
You expecting that play to carry over to the season?
Absolutely. Stratty has lofty goals. We’ve talked a little bit about them. For her to see firsthand how Marina went through the year after she was a first team All-American, I think she learned from that. I think she learned that you can’t put that kind of pressure on yourself. We’ll keep a close eye on her. Kendall looks great. I feel that they are going to give us the one-two punch that we got out of Marina and Stratty last year. So, I’m really fired up about that. Jenny Hahn is going to play number three for us this weekend. She’s got lofty goals and wants to be the best freshman in the country and help this team win. She’s a great player and has a great golf swing. She’s a hard worker and excited to be here. Irina Gabasa will play number four for us after a being a little banged up in the spring. It was such a learning experience for her and Kendall last year – they now know what to expect with Vanderbilt University and with Holly (Clark) and I’s practices. She’s a sweet girl who has got some game. Rene Sobolewski is our number five player this week. She has a great attitude and work ethic, and she also worked hard this summer. They all did. But, Rene is in a good place mentally and is very disciplined in the things that she does, especially in her pre-shot routine. They’re ready to go.
About the Cougar Classic
We’re jumping in there with some of the best teams in the country. We’ve got most of the teams from the southeast, the SEC and the ACC, and Southern Cal coming in from the west coast. So, we’ll be going against the best, so we better be ready.
What are your expectations heading into this season?
Last year, it was so different for us, with that big ole’ monster at the end of the season in hosting the national championship. For me as a coach, it was hard for me not to think about that every day. And so, not having to do that this year, I think I’m more relaxed and I think if the team sees me more relaxed, then they’ll be more relaxed out there and just play golf. My expectations are always high. We feel like we can go out and compete against anybody in our conference on any given day. We know that there are going to be ups and downs, and we know that our schedule is set up that some of the tournaments we play in come at really tough times academically. But, the girls do a great job of managing their time and managing their studies. We have a great support system for them to have the kind of success that they have.