Dramatic ending leads to a win for Vanderbilt at the Watersound Invitational

February 21, 2023 | by Jim Young of AmateurGolf.com

Courtesy of Vanderbilt Athletics

Cole Sherwood's eagle on the 17th hole lifts the top-ranked Commodores to a one-shot victory over Georgia Tech

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.

𝑵𝑬𝑾 𝑹𝑬𝑪𝑶𝑹𝑫@KjettrupF finishes at 18-under to win the Watersound Invitational.

It’s the lowest three-round score vs. par in program history 😮 #OneTribe pic.twitter.com/RXQkaTqXqz
— FSU Golf (@FSUGolf) February 21, 2023

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.

Results: Watersound Invitational

Place	Player	Location	Pts	Scores
1	Frederik Kjettrup	, Denmark	700	66-67-65=198
T2	Gordon Sargent	Mountain Brook, AL	500	71-66-66=203
T2	Christo Lamprecht	, South Africa	500	69-65-69=203
T4	Cole Sherwood	Austin, TX	400	67-68-69=204
T4	Michael Mays	Winter Park, FL	400	67-68-69=204