April 1, 2016
The #9-ranked Vanderbilt Commodores’ men’s golf team will host 13 other teams this Saturday and Sunday at the Mason Rudolph Championship on the Vanderbilt Legends Club’s South Course. This weekend will mark the 15th time the Commodores will host the event, which is named after Mason Rudolph, one of Middle Tennessee’s all-time great golfers and former head coach of the Commodores.
“I think it’s always so fun to host an event at our home with Coach Rudolph’s name on it,” said Vanderbilt head coach Scott Limbaugh. “He means so much to so many people, and he means a lot to Vanderbilt Golf. The course is in great shape. The staff at Legends has done a tremendous job in getting the course tournament ready. We are excited to play in front of our fans and people at Legends that do so much for our program.”
The Commodores will be the highest ranked team at the Mason Rudolph Championship, and will be joined by fellow ranked teams #17 Alabama and #19 Florida. Also in the field this weekend is Ball State, ETSU, Florida, Lamar, Liberty, Memphis, Middle Tennessee, Rice, Samford, SMU, UAB, and West Virginia.
The individual field is also stacked, with four of the top 30 players in college golf participating in the event. Junior Robby Shelton of Alabama is the third-best player in America, freshman Sam Horsfield of Florida is ranked 7th, Adrian Meronk of ETSU is 22nd, and the Commodores’ Matthias Schwab is ranked 29th by Golfstat.com.
Schwab will be joined in the Commodore lineup by freshmen Patrick Martin and Will Gordon and sophomores Theo Humphrey and Michael Decker. Playing as individuals this weekend will be seniors Spencer Ciesla, Carson Jacobs, Zack Jaworski, and John Voetsch, and junior Zach Herr.
“We are excited about the steps we have taken over the last few weeks, but we also know we can improve,” said Limbaugh. “There are always external factors that come with playing in your home event. We have asked them to focus on what they can control and to do the little things right. I want them to play for each other, have fun, and continue to hold themselves to the highest standards. It’s an important week, because it’s the next opportunity we have to become the team we want to become.”
Thirty-six holes will be played on Saturday on the par-71, 7,100-yard South Course, with a shotgun start getting things underway at 8 a.m. On Sunday, fixed tee times off of number one and ten start at 8 a.m.