William Moll (Vanderbilt Athletics photo)
As five of the top-20 teams in the nation gathered for the inaugural playing of the Frederica Cup, early season fireworks were all but guaranteed on St. Simons Island, Ga..
It didn't hurt matters the Frederica Golf Club (par-72; 7,309 yards) was in a particularly forgiving mood on Wednesday, as the top seven teams in the eight-team field combined to shoot 218-under par over the first two rounds in the play six, count five format.
Top-ranked Vanderbilt, which shot a blistering 35-under-par for the second round to set an 18-hole NCAA record, holds the 36-hole lead at 46-under par, followed closely by ninth-ranked Oklahoma at 44-under. Even though the tournament is a play-six, count-five format as opposed to the traditional count-four, even that adjusted number for the lowest four scores lands at 32-under-par which breaks Oregon’s previous record of 30-under-par.
“Super exciting to see our guys have a round like that this afternoon,” said Vanderbilt head coach Scott Limbaugh. “We knew we had to have a special round if we wanted to get ourselves back into contention and to go out and play that great was really fun.
“In my opinion, it takes a lot of courage to respond when you know you have to and it says a lot about their competitive character.”
Additionally, 33 of the 48 players in the field find themselves under par after the first two rounds, including nine players who stand at 10-under or better.
Vanderbilt's
William Moll holds the 36-hole lead after carding rounds of 64 and 65 to sit at 15-under 129. The senior from Houston has a one-stroke lead over Calum Scott of Texas Tech and is two clear of Georgia's
Connor Creasy and Oklahoma's
Drew Goodman heading into Thursday's final round.
After opening with a 2-under 70, NCAA individual champion
Gordon Sargent of Vanderbilt shot a scintillating 10-under 62 in his afternoon round, turning in a card that featured nine birdies and an eagle against just one bogey. At 12-under, he is three strokes behind his teammate Moll heading into Thursday's final round action.
Along with Moll and Sargent, Vandy junior
Cole Sherwood (69-65) also resides in the top-10, tied for eighth at 10-under par.
Vanderbilt tees off with Oklahoma at 8:24 a.m. ET off the first tee. The Sooners and Commodores were last paired in the final round of the 2022 NCAA Championship, where they tied for first in stroke play. Live scoring for the final round will be available on Golfstat.com.
ABOUT THE
The Frederica Cup
54-hole men's college tournament hosted by
Vanderbilt
University. Team (best five scores out of six players
each round) and individual competitions.
View Complete Tournament Information