MG to take on tough field at Nike Collegiate Invitational

The Commodores return to action this Sunday through Tuesday at the prestigious Nike Collegiate Invitational at world-famous Colonial Country Club in Forth Worth, Texas in a field that features eight of the top 20 teams in the nation.  Vanderbilt, who won the event the last time it was played at Colonial in 2016, recently finished third in their last tournament Tuesday at Shoal Creek in Birmingham, Ala.

Vanderbilt, currently ranked 16th in the latest Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) poll, will compete with Oklahoma (No. 2), USC (No. 7), Texas (No. 8), Duke (No. 9), Georgia (No. 10), Clemson (13), Stanford (20), Florida (receiving votes), Wake Forest (receiving votes), Oregon (receiving votes), Washington (receiving votes), Arizona, TCU, and Ohio State.

“This is a great tournament and truly one of the highlights of the year,” said Vanderbilt head coach Scott Limbaugh.  “Nike does so many special things for our program and this tournament is certainly one of them.  The people at Colonial treat us unbelievably and the golf course is so good with so much tradition.” 

The Commodores will send seniors Will Gordon and Patrick Martin, junior John Augenstein, and sophomores Mason Greenberg and Harrison Ott to compete at this prestigious event.

“Our focus is on growing and learning each time we compete,” said Limbaugh.  “Our guys understand that we all have to push ourselves to be a little more consistent than we have been in order to be closer to what we are capable of.  We have to challenge ourselves to stay locked in and think about the right things at the right times.  We know we can be much better than we have been. That is the exciting part, because we are taking steps towards being the team we know we can be.”

Play begins wth a 7:45 a.m. shotgun start on Sunday at Colonial.  Live stats can be found throughout the tournament on Golfstat.com.