Vanderbilt clinches No. 1 seed for match play
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. --- Vanderbilt posted the lowest score of the tournament on Saturday and snared the top seed for the match play portion of the 2017 Southeastern Conference Men's Golf Championship at Sea Island Golf Club.
The Commodores finished 54 holes of stroke play at 11-under 829, including a blistering 8-under 272 in the final round. Vanderbilt was paced by 4-under 66s from Patrick Martin and Theo Humphrey and a 1-under 69 from Matthias Schwab.
"What a fun day out there today," Vanderbilt coach Scott Limbaugh said. "I am extremely proud of how the guys played and set the tone from the start. I thought we did a great job of not getting complacent and instead we played hungry. Theo and Matthias did an outstanding job getting out first and setting the tone for our team. Obviously, we are proud of Patrick. He stayed patient early in his round, which really allowed him to free up after making a long par putt on No. 9. His back nine was just outstanding golf and propelled our team to the top, which is a very big deal and a great step for us."
For the first time, the SEC is utilizing an 8-team match play to determine its team champion. The eight squads advancing on Saturday were Vanderbilt, Texas A&M, LSU, Florida, South Carolina, Alabama, Missouri and Ole Miss.
Two rounds of match play are slated for Sunday. Beginning at 7:30 a.m., the matchups will be Vanderbilt and Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Missouri, Florida and South Carolina, and LSU and Alabama. The four winners will advance to the second round of match play Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
The final two winners will play for the SEC Championship on Monday starting at 7:30 a.m.