PORTLAND, Ore. – The Commodore men’s golf team carded an eight-under par, 276, in the first round of the Nike Collegiate Invitational on Sunday, which has Vanderbilt in third place on the team leader board at the Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club’s Witch Hollow Course in Portland, Oregon. The Commodores trail team leader Oklahoma by four shots entering the second round Monday and second-place Stanford by two strokes.
Senior Theo Humphrey and junior Will Gordon paced the Vanderbilt effort on Sunday, with each firing a four-under par, 67, on the par-71, 7,017-yard Witch Hollow course. Other counters for the Commodores on Sunday included a one-under par, 70, from junior Patrick Martin and a one-over, 72, from senior Michael Decker.
“Really good start by the boys today,” said Vanderbilt head coach Scott Limbaugh. “We talked about making sure we were excited and ready to go from the start and they did a great job with that today. I was proud of how we adjusted to the cool temps early in the round. Will and Theo were solid for us today and really lifted the team up. Also, Michael hung in there all day which was big. Our focus tomorrow needs to continue to play a complete round of golf. We sort of lost focus a little bit starting the back nine and we have to challenge ourselves during those moments to lock in and do our jobs.”
Vanderbilt led the field in pars with 62 on Sunday with Gordon and sophomore John Augenstein each finishing their round with 14, which tied for third among all individuals.
Humphrey and Gordon trail individual leader, Blaine Hale of Oklahoma, by three shots. Hale holds a one-shot advantage on Brandon Wu of Stanford and Norman Xiong of Oregon.
The second round of the tournament continues on Monday, with Vanderbilt teeing off at 11:40 CT with Stanford and Oklahoma.
Live results can be found on Golfstat.com.
3. Vanderbilt – 276
T7. Theo Humphrey – 67
T7. Will Gordon – 67
T23. Patrick Martin – 70
T36. Michael Decker – 72
T65. John Augenstein – 76
