AUGUSTA, Ga. — There were moments of brilliance Thursday for Gordon Sargent. There was some hairy stuff in between as well.
In the end, the amateur carded a first-round 77 at the Masters Tournament and is tied for 78th overall going into the second round. Sargent is now scheduled to tee off at 8:06 a.m. CT Friday.
“Kicked my butt out there,” Sargent said of his opening 18 at Augusta National Golf Club. “I actually drove it really well out there. Just really sloppy around the greens and on the greens.
“But I talked to my caddie at every single hole. We’re at Augusta at the Masters, how can you complain?”
Playing alongside former Masters Tournament champion Zach Johnson and Australian Jason Day, Sargent got off to a dream start on a muggy and humid Thursday afternoon.
On the par 4, 445-yard first, the Vandy sophomore drilled his debut drive off the tee and would go on to birdie the hole. But then came trouble.
Sargent’s third shot on the par 5 second went in the bunker. He then missed a par putt to fall back to even-par after two holes. And things got even worse on the third.
A massive drive on the 350-yard par 4 rolled just short of the green. But his ensuing chip shot rolled off the green and back down the hill toward him. His third chip lined long off the other side of the green. Then his putt for double bogey lipped out.
“I just need to clean it up around the greens and on the greens,” Sargent said. “My speed is pretty terrible today. Just kind of focusing on that. Go get a few reps on the practice green and get some rest for (Friday).”
Sargent settled in, mostly after the tough breaks on 2 and 3.
He sandwiched a pair of pars on 4 and 6 around a bogey on five and impressed on 7 and 8 with consecutive birdies. Vanderbilt vice chancellor for athletics and university fairs and athletics director Candice Lee and Vanderbilt men’s basketball coach Jerry Stackhouse greeted Sargent at the No. 8 tee box.
Vanderbilt swimming head coach Jeremy Organ was also in attendance.
Two putts on nine led to another bogey and had Sargent at 3-over-par after nine holes.
Sargent hung tough on the back nine. A par putt on 11 lipped out. A pop-up rain shower on 13 briefly brought out the umbrellas before Sargent made par—the second of five straight pars before a bogey on 17 put him at 6-over-par heading to the 18th.
Another monster drive on that par 4, 465-yard hole was followed by a beauty of an approach that put the Birmingham, Alabama, native in position to birdie. He did just that, ending his day with some momentum.
“It’s pretty special,” Sargent said of being at the event Thursday. “Kind of like, you hit a bad shot, you just kind of think you’re at The Masters playing at Augusta National and you can’t be mad. Like, I obviously wanted to play better, but it’s like this opportunity, this experience so far has been amazing.
“Look forward to trying to play a good round (Friday) and hopefully make the weekend.”
Sargent hit 12 of 14 fairways Thursday and drove the ball an average distance of 324.3 yards. He’ll play his second round Friday with Johnson (+3, T-63) and Day (-5, T-4) again and need to make the cut to advance to the weekend’s final two rounds.
— Chad Bishop covers Vanderbilt for VUCommodores.com.
Follow him @MrChadBishop.
