Vanderbilt and Florida to decide SEC Championship on Sunday

April 22, 2023 | by Jim Young of AmateurGolf.com

Commodores aim for their third straight SEC title on Sunday against a familiar foe

And then there were two.

After a long day of golf at Sea Island Golf Club, top-ranked Vanderbilt and No. 7 Florida will decide the SEC Championship Sunday morning after both teams won their quarterfinal and semifinal matches on Saturday.

Vanderbilt, which entered the match-play portion of the tournament as the No. 4 seed, dispatched Alabama (4-1-0) and top-seed Tennessee (3-1-1) to reach the title match opposite the Gators, which defeated Ole Miss (4-1-0) and Texas A&M (3-2-0).

After rolling Alabama, Vanderbilt's Reid Davenport provided the deciding point by converting a short putt on the 19th hole of his match with Tennessee's Jake Hill to send the Commodores to the SEC title match for the third consecutive year.

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Related: Caleb Surratt wins SEC individual title

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On the opposite side of the bracket, Florida romped to a 4-1-0 win over Ole Miss to set up a semifinal clash with Texas A&M. Matthew Kress, John DuBois and Fred Biondi - the first three Gators out - all posted victories for Florida, with only one match reaching the 18th hole. U.S. Amateur champion Sam Bennett and Phichaksn Maichon accounted for the Aggies' two points.

As he did in the quarterfinal match against Ole Miss, Kress delivered the deciding point to lift the Gators over the Aggies with a par on the 18th hole to close out Vishnu Sadagopan.

The Vanderbilt-Florida championship match is a rematch of last year's final won by the Commodores, 3-2-0, when Vandy's Cole Sherwood downed Yuxin Lin on the 16th hole.

Sunday's championship match from the Seaside Course at the Sea Island Golf Club will tee off at 8 a.m. ET Sunday and will be televised live on the SEC Network.

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SEC Championship Match
Florida vs. Vanderbilt
Matthew Kress vs. Matthew Riedel, 8:00 a.m.
John DuBois vs. Reid Davenport, 8:10 a.m.
Yuxin Lin vs. William Moll, 8:20 a.m.
Fred Biondi vs. Gordon Sargent, 8:30 a.m.
Ricky Castillo vs. Cole Sherwood, 8:40 a.m.

Results: SEC Championship

Place	Player	Location	Pts	Scores
1	Caleb Surratt	Indian Trail, NC	800	64-68-64=196
2	Alex Goff	Kings Mountain, NC	500	67-68-67=202
3	Phichaksn Maichon	Beverly Hills, CA	400	68-70-65=203
4	Canon Claycomb	Bowling Green, KY	400	67-66-71=204
5	Gordon Sargent	Mountain Brook, AL	400	68-69-68=205