Road trips are nothing new to the Vanderbilt men’s and women’s golf teams. In the next month alone, the Commodores will travel to North Carolina and out west to California for the culmination of their fall schedule.
This weekend, however, the teams will only have to make a short drive south on I-65, as the Commodores host the annual Mason Rudolph Invitational at the Vanderbilt Legends Club.
Located in nearby Franklin, the invitational marks Vanderbilt’s only home tournament of the fall and spring season. Therefore, the Commodores are looking to make the most of their home course advantage.
“It’s our home course, and we’ve played out here a lot recently. We’re comfortable here, and feel like we can win,” said senior Hudson Johnson. “When you are confident as an individual, and you see your entire team confident, it’s hard to do badly.”
With play scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, both teams will compete over a total of 54 holes, as the women’s tournament will be held on the par-72 North Course and the men’s tournament will be held on the par-71 South Course.
With a men’s and women’s field of 17 teams, the Commodores will face tough Southeastern conference and national competition. The women’s field features eight out of the top 10 ranked teams in the nation, including Arizona State (No. 1 Golfworld) and USC (No.2), as well as defending champions, the UCLA Bruins (No. 3).
On the men’s side, Vanderbilt will compete against SEC foes Ole Miss and Mississippi State, as well as defending champion South Carolina at the invitational. Arkansas State, neighboring Belmont and Lipscomb, as well as Davidson and Notre Dame, also make up a portion of this weekend’s field.
Sophomore Marina Alex and senior Brooke Goodwin will use their leadership and experience to pace the Commodores in their second tournament of the season. The women’s team placed seventh out of a field of 18 teams in the Cougar Fall Classic two weekends ago.
Last season, Alex led the Commodores with a 74.3 stroke average in her first year of collegiate golf play. With three top-10 finishes in her freshman year, Alex qualified for the NCAA Championships, where she shot a 143 on her final 36-holes, tying the tournament best. Alex also competed in the U.S. Women’s Open and U.S. Women’s Amateur this past summer.
“There’s no tournament like the U.S. Open,” Alex told Travis Young of Vanderbilt Athletics. “It’s helped me deal with tournament pressure. It just doesn’t seem as stressful as an Open.”
As a sophomore, Alex is looking to build on her explosive freshman year, alongside her six fellow teammates. With three freshmen on this year’s squad, this weekend’s tournament will also be useful as a marker for the newcomers’ adjustment to collegiate golfing.
For the men, Johnson will lead the Commodores on the links. The senior opened his fall season with a third-place individual finish in the Golfweek Conference Challenge in Iowa earlier this month.
Men’s golf coach, Tom Shaw, will look to seniors Johnson and Chris Rockwell, as well as juniors Ryan Haselden and Adam Hofmann to use their years of collegiate experience to their advantage this season. The Commodores boast an upperclassmen-laden team this year, with only two freshmen on the 10-man squad.
In the midst of a very competitive field this weekend, the Commodores will look to use familiarity to their advantage, will remaining focused over the duration of the invitational’s three rounds.
In fact, there is one distinct notion that the golfers are remaining focused on: winning.
“I’m going to do whatever it takes to get it in the hole,” Johnson said. “You hear athletes talk about the will to win, and that’s more along the lines of what I’m trying to do this week: staying focused and not letting anything go unnoticed.”
