NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The hope is that a tough spring schedule has prepared the Vanderbilt women’s golf team as it goes into this week’s Southeastern Conference Championships.
“We’ve had some really good practices since we hit the reset button April 1,” said head coach Greg Allen. “The team looks refreshed, mentally and physically, and are ready to go.”
Wednesday marks the opening round of the SEC Championships on The Legacy Course at the Greystone Golf Club in Birmingham, Alabama, where the Commodores will join 13 other league members in hopes of coming home with a conference title.
The 2022 event will mark the fourth consecutive time in which the championships will feature stroke (April 13-15) and match play (April 16-17). Stroke play will take place for the first three rounds of the championship, while match play is set for the final two days of the event.
Sunday’s championship match was televised live on SEC Network for the first time in 2018 and will continue to be shown this Sunday at 7:30 a.m. (CT). In addition, the semifinals on Saturday will be available live digitally on SEC Network+ beginning at 4 p.m. (CT).
“The SEC Championships has turned into a lot of golf since we added match play a few years ago and the most important thing we can do the next few days is do whatever it takes to earn a Saturday tee time,” noted Allen.
Last season, the Dores tied for fifth in stroke play to advance to the quarterfinals of match play, where they fell short to Auburn 3-1-1 to close out the championships. Individually, the duo of Celina Sattelkau and Tess Davenport hit career-low marks at the championships; Sattelkau posted the second-lowest 54-hole score in program history after shooting a career-low 13-under-par 203 to finish third in stroke play while Davenport tied for 17th with a 6-under-par 210 that included a pair of career-low scores (69) in the first and second rounds.
Vanderbilt has advanced to the match-play playoff every year since it was instituted in 2018. The Dores have won two SEC team championships with the last coming in 2014.
The Dores are scheduled to tee off at 9:10 a.m. Wednesday following a practice round at Greystone on the previous day. Vandy will try to conquer The Legacy Course’s par-72 layout that measures up to 6,331 yards for the championships.
“We have a group this week that has played Greystone (Golf Club) before and we’ll be leaning on that experience,” said Allen. “We have absolutely nothing to lose this week so why not give it everything we have.”
Scouting the SEC Field
The Dores will be part of a competitive SEC field to commence the postseason as 12 of the league’s 14 teams are currently ranked inside Golfweek’s top 50.
Eight of those programs are among Golfweek’s top 25 squads: No. 3 South Carolina, No. 8 Alabama, No. 11 Florida, No. 12 Arkansas, No. 13 Texas A&M, No. 16 LSU, No. 21 Auburn and No. 22 Ole Miss. Heading into SEC Championship week, the Aggies lead the SEC standings with the Gators and Crimson Tide rounding out the top three. Auburn, Mississippi State, LSU, Kentucky and South Carolina round out the top eight, respectively.
The 14-team field also includes seven of the 24 teams that advanced to the 2021 NCAA Championship – Ole Miss, Auburn, LSU, South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky and Alabama.
The individual field includes 27 of the top 100 collegiate golfers according to Golfweek. Six of Golfweek’s top 25 individuals will chase the medalist crown, including LSU’s Ingrid Lindblad, who currently sits in the top three, along with Alabama duo Polly Mack and Benedetta Moresco who rank seventh and eighth, respectively.
Behind the Scenes at Greystone
The 2022 SEC championships mark the ninth consecutive year for the event to be contested at the Greystone Golf and Country Club in Birmingham. The SEC has conducted its annual championships at Greystone since 2013.
As its name suggests, The Legacy Course builds on its revered predecessor’s strengths, heightening the challenge to players and requires unwavering physical and mental acumen. Carved naturally from a visually dramatic landscape of placid lakes, meandering streams and the undulation of Alabama’s Appalachian foothills, the course’s par-72 layout measures up to 6,331 yards for the championships.
Designed by world-famous Architect, Rees Jones, each hole is an inviting yet demanding contest, allowing the player to visualize the shot. The Legacy is destined to become a heavyweight among championship courses because its design accommodates both member and PGA TOUR tournament play. In addition, Greystone hosts the Regions Tradition, one of five major championships on the PGA TOUR Champions.
SEC History Lesson – Vanderbilt at SEC Championships
The Dores have won two SEC team championships (2004, 2014) in program history. Vandy has garnered three individual SEC champions – May Wood (2004), Marina Alex (2010) and Simin Feng (2014). Feng is the only one out of the three to win at Greystone, while also holding the ninth-lowest individual round in tournament history at 66.
Vanderbilt has advanced to the match-play playoff every year since it was instituted in 2018. The Dores have been quarterfinalists ever since the new format was instituted and is seeking their first trip to the semifinals.
The Lineup
The Commodores will stick with the same lineup that was used in their regular season finale. Auston Kim, Louise Yu and a trio of juniors – Sattelkau, Davenport and Jayna Choi – feature this week’s lineup going into the SEC Championships in Birmingham.
Kim, an ANNIKA Award candidate and two-time Augusta National Women’s Amateur participant stays in the top spot after a team leading 72.48 scoring average for the season.
Yu stays steady at No. 2 after moving up 23 spots following the opening round of the Dores’ regular season finale at the Clemson Invitational to finish in the top 30 individually. 2021 NCAA Championship individual qualifier and SEC Golfer of the Week (March 10), Sattelkau, stays at No. 3.
Both Davenport and Choi round out the last two spots of the starting five lineup at fourth and fifth, respectively.
Last Time Out – Regular Season Finale
Vandy closed out a challenging regular season with a 13th-place finish at the Clemson Invitational in Sunset, South Carolina, from March 25-27. A pair of SEC teams finished in the top three after the 54-hole tournament as LSU was crowned team champions with a 27-over par total while Kentucky finished third at 31-over par. Finishing in second was Illinois (+28), who was one-stroke behind LSU.
Vandy fired a 16-over-par 304 in the final round to finish the 54-hole event with a score of 921. The Dores were led by L. Yu, who finished in a seven-way tie for 30th after improving 23 spots from the beginning of the 54-hole event. Making their 2022 spring debuts, Ariel Yu finished in a seven-way tie for 50th, while Davenport finished tied for 57th. Junior duo Sattelkau and Choi finished in an eight-way tie for 63rd after shooting 18-over par. Kim rounded out the Vandy contingent to tie for 71st to complete the three-day event.
Dores Duo Garner SEC Honors
As announced by the league office, Sattelkau earned SEC Golfer of the Week on March 10, while Natasha Kiel was named SEC Freshman of the Week on Feb. 10.
In her first start of the 2022 spring season, Sattelkau posted a season-low round of 2-under par during the final round and 1-under par for the tournament to match a career-best finish tied for third at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate, which aired Feb. 28-March 2 on GOLF Channel. Out of 90 individuals, the junior surged six spots after the second round to finish as the top SEC player in the field and was one of four to finish the 54-holes below par. The top-three finish marked her first since stroke play at the 2021 SEC Championships and third overall.
Kiel, a native of New Hope, Pennsylvania, was honored for her performance at the FAU Paradise Invitational in January where she made her first start on the road and finished with a career-low 8-under-par 208, which tied her for the 12th lowest 54-hole score in program history. In only her second career start, Kiel earned her first career top-five finish, tying for fifth overall, after closing out the tournament with a career-low round of 67 (-5).