Opportunities presented themselves for the Vanderbilt men’s golf team Sunday afternoon at the Mason Rudolph Invitational at the Vanderbilt Legends Club, but they weren’t able to exploit them enough to garner a victory.

Vanderbilt finished in sixth place in the annual tournament it hosts at the Vanderbilt Legends Club, going 5-under par for the weekend, only seven strokes behind first-place finisher Middle Tennessee.

“I think there was being a little overcautious sometimes and also being a little bit off,” said coach Tom Shaw. “Sometimes you’re the windshield, sometimes you’re the bug.”

Sunday could not have been less like Saturday, with blue skies and sunshine taking the place of pouring rain the day before that caused the tournament to be held to only 36 holes.

The Commodores were in position to make a run throughout the day but were unable to capitalize on several opportunities. The conditions of the course one day after a rainstorm, said Shaw, were not a factor.

“Something we’ve played in all week,” Shaw said. “You throw in some really good teams and now maybe you feel like you’ve got to raise your game, but all it takes is keeping on doing what you’re doing.”

Junior Ryan Haselden led Vanderbilt, finishing in second place overall for the tournament at 6-under (67-69) on the 7,100-yard, par-71 course.

On Friday, Haselden opened with birdies on three of his first four holes and played consistently the rest of the round, and he didn’t skip a beat after not playing on a rain-soaked Saturday.

He got off to another quick start with birdies on two of his first three holes and only had one bogey for the entire round.

 “I hit the ball pretty solid all day,” Haselden said. “I didn’t put myself in situations where I had to scramble or anything and I left myself birdie putts most of the day.”

“He’s off to a great start this year,” Shaw said. “I’ve got no worries about him, he’s a fine player.”

The rest of the Commodores didn’t fare quite as well. Although senior Hudson Johnson shot a 67 on Friday, he had a 71 on Sunday to finish in eighth place overall. A fantastic chip on 18 set up a tap-in birdie putt to put him at even-par for the day.

Only senior Chris Rockwell had a better round Sunday than Friday among the Vanderbilt players having their scores counted, shooting a one-under 70 after carding a 73 Friday.

“Kind of a mediocre finish,” Haselden said of the team overall. “We wanted to win pretty badly.”