Dramatic ending leads to a win for Vanderbilt at the Watersound Invitational
Courtesy of Vanderbilt Athletics
The dramatic ending of the Watersound Invitational in Panama City, Fla. on Tuesday was not for the faint-hearted.
Top-ranked Vanderbilt took an eight-stroke lead over Georgia Tech into the final round at the Shark's Tooth Club and withstood a furious rally by the Yellow Jackets before winning its fifth tournament of the season.
Georgia Tech reeled in the Dores by shooting 21-under par in the final round and led by one stroke before Cole Sherwood made an eagle on the par-5, 575-yard 17th hole to give Vanderbilt the win.
The final round was a two-team race as the Yellow Jackets went out in 12-under to cut Vandy's eight-stroke lead in half. Georgia Tech remained red-shot on the backside and even took a one-stroke lead at one point, but birdies on 17 by Gordon Sargent, Matthew Riedel and Wells Williams along with Sherwood's eagle ended the Jackets' comeback bid.
“My goodness what a finish!” Vanderbilt head coach Scott Limbaugh said. “We are just so proud of how our boys battled until the end, dug deep, and found a way to get the job done. Obviously, Georgia Tech played awesome today and we certainly take our hat’s off to them. They are a really good team and it’s great for us to get pushed like that and find a way to respond. They made a ton of plays and then our guys made some special plays down the stretch.”
The Commodores finished 38-under-par to edge the Yellow Jackets by a shot to earn their third win in a row and 10th since February of 2022.
Florida State's Frederik Kjettrup went wire-to-wire for his second collegiate victory. The junior from Aabybro, Denmark carded rounds of 66-67-65 to finish at 18-under 198, which was good for a five-stroke victory over Sargent.
ABOUT THE
Watersound Invitational
54 hole men's college tournament hosted by
Florida State University. Team (best four scores out
of
five players) and individual competitions.
View Complete Tournament Information