ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — Vanderbilt remained in contention to advance to match play after posting another solid score Thursday at the SEC Championships at the Sea Island Golf Club.
The Commodores closed strong with a 2-under-par 278 for the second round and are tied for fourth overall alongside Tennessee. The top eight teams after Friday’s 18 third round advance to Saturday’s quarterfinals.
Vandy got an exceptional round Thursday from William Moll. The senior carded three birdies en route to a 68 as he moved into the top 10 on the individual leaderboard—he’s tied for seventh place ahead of Friday’s final round.
Gordon Sargent birdied his final two holes Thursday to finish with a 69–the sophomore is also tied for seventh overall. Matthew Riedel (+3, tied for 44th) recovered from a triple-bogey on No. 4 to finish with an even-par 70.
Reid Davenport (+2, tied for 39th) carded a 71 while Cole Sherwood (+1, tied for 35th) was 3-over-par for the day.
“I was proud that we had all of our guys in the round all day long and competing with everything they had. That’s very important this time of year and it will be important Friday. The course played tougher with more wind and the greens are firming up,” Vandy head coach Scott Limbaugh said. “Excited to see Matthew play well and show a lot of resilience in how he responded after No. 4. Reid looked solid all day and he’s close to playing a really good round. Cole was right there as well and just missed a couple of putts that would have changed the flow of his round. We believe in him and know he will be there going forward.
“William played very well today and is doing a great job focusing on the right things and having fun. Finally, Gordon finished like a champion with birdies on that last two holes. That felt really big for him and on our team to lock in and grab some momentum.”
Vanderbilt (-6) goes into Friday’s action one shot ahead of sixth-place Mississippi State, four shots in front of Missouri and six shots clear of eighth-place Arkansas. Texas A&M (-12) and Alabama (-12) are tied atop the team leaderboard while Tennessee’s Caleb Surratt is 8-under-par for the tournament and is the individual leader.
Vanderbilt is scheduled to tee off at 7:50 a.m. CT Friday alongside Tennessee and Mississippi State. Live scoring for the event can be found HERE.
“We are trying to be the best team we can be and it’s not supposed to be easy. Sometimes it feels people assume you just get to show up and it will be easy. That’s just not the way sports works, especially during championship season,” Limbaugh said. “It’s about locking in and thinking the right way and doing the little things at a high level. Friday is a big day and we look forward to an opportunity to finish stroke play the right way.”
