ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — Another solid round of golf Thursday allowed Vanderbilt to maintain its lead after 36 holes at the SEC Championships on the Seaside Course on St. Simons Island.
The Commodores were 6-under-par as a team Thursday and are four strokes ahead of Florida going into Friday’s final 18 holes. Florida was one of the hotter teams of the day during the second round as the Gators shot a 269 team score.
But Vandy got seven birdies and an eagle down the stretch to finish strong and keep its lead.
“Just super-pumped for that,” Vanderbilt head coach Scott Limbaugh said. “We didn’t have a lot of momentum and you could feel it. That’s good for us. When things are hard it makes you better. The story for me today is just the resiliency the boys showed.”
Vanderbilt saw William Moll rebound Thursday with a 67. The junior carded five birdies – including two straight to end his round – and is tied for 29th at 1-over-par for the tournament.
A 🐦 on 17 for William Moll. 🕳 #AnchorDown pic.twitter.com/sBiL3kd79W
— Vanderbilt Men’s Golf (@VandyMGolf) April 21, 2022
Gordon Sargent shot a 69 and is tied for second overall at 4-under-par for the event. Reid Davenport (-4) is also tied for second after a 69 of his own Thursday.
Phichaksn Maichon of Texas A&M is 6-under-par and leads Sargent, Davenport and four others by two strokes for the overall lead.
Harrison Ott fired a 69, too, Thursday and is tied for 23rd overall at even par. Cole Sherwood (-1) was 1-over-par for his second round and is tied for 16th.
“That says a lot about a young person when you respond to adversity. It says a lot about his character. It’s the reason we believe in him,” Limbaugh said of Moll’s day. “He didn’t have the day he wanted to have Wednesday and we talked Wednesday night and said, ‘William you need to go out there and show up Thursday.’ He responded.
“Then you look at look at Reid and his ability to flip his round. Two-over-par through 14 holes, nothing going, in a lull – hits a 3-wood to 15 feet, buries that putt. Then rolls one in on 16 to kind of flip his story for the day. To me that’s what being a great competitor is about.”
Vanderbilt is scheduled to tee off at 8:40 a.m. CT Friday and will be paired with Florida and LSU. Live scoring for Friday’s final round of stroke play can be found HERE.
The top eight teams at the end of Friday’s competition advance to match play beginning Saturday.
“I want us to play our best round of the week Friday,” Limbaugh said. “We want to try to go into the weekend on a positive note. This is two separate tournaments – we got the stroke play portion, we want to be our best then, and then when it’s time we will turn our minds over to the next portion.”
