No. 21 Vanderbilt Women’s Golf had a strong finish to its regular season but struggled in its start to the postseason as it placed 15th at the SEC Championships at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida. The Commodores are two-time SEC champions — 2004 and 2014 — and they most recently secured 10th place in 2024. Vanderbilt went into the April 14–18 competition ready to grab its first title this decade.
Vanderbilt faced a competitive field with a number of ranked SEC teams, including No. 4 South Carolina, No. 6 Texas, No. 11 LSU, No. 14 Auburn, No. 16 Texas A&M, No. 18 Ole Miss, No. 20 Mississippi State and No. 24 Florida. Vanderbilt’s lineup for this event featured Lynn Lim, Ava Merrill, Sara Im, Tillie Claggett and Angelina Tolentino; Claire Henson competed as the alternate.
The Commodores stumbled into the first round, carding a cumulative plus-13. Merrill finished with a 5-over 75, Claggett with a 4-over, Tolentino 3-over and Im 1-over. Lim was the only player to avoid a first-round score over par, finishing even. Vanderbilt had an even rougher start in its second round, dropping to 15th place after carding a 30-over through the first 36 holes. Merrill was the best Commodore of Round Two, as she finished at a 4-over 74.
“Today was a day [when] you really want to have a short memory. In fact, [associate head coach Emilie] Meason used the Ted Lasso line and told them to be a goldfish,” head coach Greg Allen said after the struggles on the second 18 holes. “I’m not even sure what happened. With the exception of Tillie [Claggett]’s rough start, things were fine through our first eight holes and then disaster hit us on 18 and we never quite recovered.”
Merrill concluded the final round with a steady performance, carding a 1-under 69, with three birdies. Claggett successfully bounced back from an unsteady start on the front nine, settling in to shoot 2-under and two birdies on the back nine. Tolentino carded a 4-over-74, her best performance in her first SEC Championship, while Im also shot 4-over-par and Lim shot 9-over.
Vanderbilt will now wait to hear whether it will head to an NCAA Regional, with its fate and potential location to be revealed on April 23 during the NCAA Women’s Golf Selection Show. The show will air at 12 p.m. CDT on Golf Channel.
