NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Cole Sherwood and Gordon Sargent are ready to take their games across the pond.
Vandy’s dynamic duo is scheduled to compete for Team USA starting Friday at the Golf Club de Genève in Switzerland at the 2022 Palmer Cup.
“We are so proud of these guys for earning their way on the Arnold Palmer Cup team. They are great young men that have both played with a ton of consistency and showed they are winners,” Vandy head coach Scott Limbaugh said. “They represent Vanderbilt University and our golf program in a first-class way in everything they do. I know they are excited and will represent themselves, our program and Vanderbilt with class and the competitive character that I know would make Mr. Palmer proud.”
Sherwood and Sargent will join Sam Bennett and Walker Lee of Texas A&M, Michael Thorbjornsen of Stanford, Palmer Jackson of Notre Dame, Nick Gabrelcik of North Florida, Michael Brennan of Wake Forest, Dylan Menante of Pepperdine, Travis Vick of Texas, Johnny Keefer of Baylor and Jake Doggett of Midwestern State on Team USA.
The selection of Sherwood and Sargent to Team USA brings the number of Vanderbilt Palmer Cup members during Limbaugh’s tenure as Vandy head coach to 11. William Moll competed for Team USA in the 2021 event.
The United States Palmer Cup teams consist of 12 men and 12 women golfers. The first six men’s and women’s players are selected using the Arnold Palmer Cup Ranking, while the remaining players are selected by using five committee picks and one coach’s pick.
The Arnold Palmer Cup was co-founded by Arnold Palmer and The Golf Coaches Association of America and began at the Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando, Florida, in 1997. The event is a Ryder Cup-style tournament, matching the United States against an international team.
Since the tournament’s inception, 101 Arnold Palmer Cup alumni have gone on to earn cards on either the PGA or European tours and 25 alumni have represented Europe or the USA in the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup. Fifty-three of the alumni have combined to rack up 1,916 victories on the PGA or European tours.
Founded in 1922, Golf Club de Genève features a course designed in 1973 by Robert Trent Jones Sr. and fully renovated in 2018 by his son Robert Trent Jones Jr. A par 72 that plays to 6,821 yards, the course offers views of the city, Lake Geneva (Lac Léman), the iconic Mont Blanc and the surrounding Alps.
Trio Card Solid Finish at Northeast
Sargent, Reid Davenport and William Moll all had strong showings at the Northeast Amateur Invitational Golf Tournament in Rumford, Rhode Island.
Sargent was in contention for much of the four-round event before falling into a tie for fourth with a 270 total. Dylan Menante posted the top score, a 19-under-par 257.
Davenport shot his final three rounds in the 60s and finished 14th at 2 under par. A 68 by Moll (-1) during his final round allowed him to tie for 15th place.
Williams in Top Four at Mississippi
Incoming Vanderbilt freshman Wells Williams led the Mississippi State Amateur Championship at 7 under par after two rounds before falling into a tie for second place going into the final day. He would wind up fourth, six shots back from champion Brice Wilkinson (-8).
Preston Nearly Wins at Kentucky Am
Jansen Preston, a rising junior who took the 2021–22 year as a redshirt campaign for Vanderbilt, didn’t show any rust when competing at the 108th Kentucky Amateur in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Preston nearly won the event with a three-round total of 207, just two strokes off from being involved in an eventual championship playoff. The Kentucky native carded a first-round 66 and was in contention for the entirety of the event before finishing in a tie for sixth.
Van Paris Plays Strong at Sunnehanna
Rising sophomore Jackson Van Paris played better and better as the rounds went on at the 69th Sunnehanna Amateur at the Sunnehanna Country Club in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
Van Paris recovered from an opening-round 72 to card back-to-back 70s before he finished with a final-round 69. He wound up tied for 13th, just six shots back of champion Bryce Lewis.
The Summer Ahead
Vandy golfers will stay busy through the next few months.
Among the many tournaments the Commodores will be competing in are the North and South Amateur in North Carolina (Tuesday–Saturday), the Southern Amateur (July 13–16) in Georgia, the Western Amateur in Illinois and the U.S. Amateur (Aug. 15–21) in New Jersey. Van Paris was the 2021 North-South runner-up and is in the field for this week’s event. He has advanced to the match play portion of the event as the No. 22 seed. Incoming freshman John Broderick qualified for U.S. Junior Championship (July 25–30) in Bandon, Oregon.
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