NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt will put a bow on its 2021 fall season when it takes part in the Williams Cup starting Monday in Wilmington, North Carolina.
The Commodores have played in three events this this fall – with one being canceled – and are coming off a runner-up finish at the SEC Match Play Championship in Alabama. Vandy beat South Carolina and Georgia, respectively, before narrowly falling 3-2 to Arkansas.
“I thought we took a good step forward at the match play event. We would obviously love to continue that momentum and take another step this week toward being the team we know we can be,” Vanderbilt head coach Scott Limbaugh said. “Our focus is on improving, continuing to get more people in the deep end with what they are being asked to do and a commitment to finish this fall season the right way. The talent we have on this team won’t speed us up or slow us down – it’s our mindset that is the game-changer.”
This week’s event will include some added incentive for all participants.
The individual champion in the first-ever Williams Cup will receive an exemption to compete in the Korn Ferry Tour’s Rex Hospital Open in June. The Rex Hospital Open is contested at TPC Wakefield Plantation in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Harrison Ott, Cole Sherwood, Gordon Sargent, Michael Shears and Reid Davenport will be donning the black and gold this week in hopes of securing that exemption. William Moll will be competing as an individual.
Played at the par 72 Eagle Point Golf Club (7,362 yards), Vanderbilt will play 36 holes starting at 7:30 a.m. CT Monday before Tuesday’s final round of 18 holes. Georgia, Houston, Indiana, Iowa, Louisville, Michigan State, North Carolina State, North Carolina Wilmington and host North Carolina are also part of the field.
“It is always exciting to go to a new tournament, especially one at a course like Eagle Point,” Limbaugh said. “We are appreciative of all the things that the people at UNC, the Williams family and Stitch Golf have put into making this such a first-class event.”
Live scoring for the event can be found HERE.
Dores on Tour
While the current cast of Commodores are focused on battling in North Carolina, former Vandy standouts continue to have success in the professional ranks.
Will Gordon and John Augenstein each recently advanced in Korn Ferry Tour qualifying and both earned their respective Korn Ferry Tour cards for the 2022 season.
In the second stage of qualifying, in Plantation, Florida, Gordon shot a four-day total of 272 to finish tied for ninth at 12-under-par. Augenstein, competing in Dothan, Alabama, finished tied for seventh with a four-day total of 278 and was 10-under-par.
Gordon and Augenstein advance to the finals of Korn Ferry Tour Q-School in Savannah, Georgia, on Nov. 4-7. The top 40 finishers at the finals are assured a healthy numbers of starts in the first part of next season’s Korn Ferry Tour.
On the European Tour, Matthias Schwab finished tied for 15th at the recent Andalucía Masters in Spain. Schwab now has eight top-15 finishes in 2021.
Luke List was impressive this past week at the ZOZO Championship in Japan. List shot a 275 over four rounds to card a 5-under-par and finished tied for seventh.
That result marked List’s second top-10 finish in the last four months.
