In their final event of the fall, the Vanderbilt Men’s golf team graced East Lake Golf Club’s course for the semifinal match of the prestigious East Lake Cup Oct. 29.
After placing fourth in the seeding portion of the competition on Monday, the Commodores ran into a strong University of Texas team and dropped their first three matches en route to a 4.5-.5 loss in the match play semifinal.
Head coach Scott Limbaugh opted to send arguably his two best players out first, freshman William Moll and senior John Augenstein, and unfortunately did not find success using this strategy. After a slow start to the morning, the Commodores got it going early on in the back nine but it was not quite enough to upset the Longhorns.
The first result of the day came from the third match out as Commodore freshman Matthew Riedel surrendered a point to the Longhorns’ Parker Coody. Riedel battled on the front nine, but lost three holes in the middle of the match which proved too much to recover from, as he lost two and one after the 17th hole.
Recent Masters qualifier and the world’s No. 5 ranked amateur John Augenstein battled back to even on the 16th hole, and ended up needing extra holes in his match with Texas Freshman Travis Vick.
After wayward drives on the first extra hole, both played fantastic punch shots just short of the green. Longhorn freshman Vick opted to putt his third from just off the green and drained the 40+ footer to force Augenstein’s hand. Augenstein left his chip just short, giving Texas the 2-0 lead.
In the first pairing of the match, freshman William Moll drained a clutch birdie putt on the 18th hole to force extra holes against Texas Senior Spencer Soosman. The pairing tied the first three extra holes, two of which featured chances to win for Moll. On their 22nd hole, Moll found trouble right off the tee on the Par-five 18th and hit his second shot to a very awkward lie on the slope of a bunker 93 yards out. He then flew the green on his third and opened the door for Soosman, who made a 10 foot birdie putt to clinch the Texas victory.
With the result already decided, Vanderbilt Junior Harrison Ott’s match with 10th ranked amateur, Pierceson Coody, ended in a tie on the 17th hole. Ott won the 10th, 11th and 17th holes with pars to tie Coody, whose strong front nine was enough to force the push.
Finally, in a battle of sophomores, Texas sensation Cole Hammer handled Vanderbilt’s Reid Davenport with ease. Hammer, the second-ranked amateur in the world, played consistent golf and dominated the back nine, leaving him two up after the 16th hole when Texas clinched the match.
Vanderbilt awaits the loser of the other semifinal match between Oklahoma State and Wake Forest, and will wrap up fall play tomorrow, Oct. 30, in the consolation match. Texas now advances to face the winner of the aforementioned match in the East Lake Cup championship.
