It didn't hurt matters the Frederica Golf Club (par-72; 7,309 yards) was in a particularly forgiving mood on Wednesday, as the top seven teams in the eight-team field combined to shoot 218-under par over the first two rounds in the play six, count five format.
“Super exciting to see our guys have a round like that this afternoon,” said Vanderbilt head coach Scott Limbaugh. “We knew we had to have a special round if we wanted to get ourselves back into contention and to go out and play that great was really fun.
“In my opinion, it takes a lot of courage to respond when you know you have to and it says a lot about their competitive character.”
Additionally, 33 of the 48 players in the field find themselves under par after the first two rounds, including nine players who stand at 10-under or better.
Vanderbilt's William Moll holds the 36-hole lead after carding rounds of 64 and 65 to sit at 15-under 129. The senior from Houston has a one-stroke lead over Calum Scott of Texas Tech and is two clear of Georgia's Connor Creasy and Oklahoma's Drew Goodman heading into Thursday's final round.
After opening with a 2-under 70, NCAA individual champion Gordon Sargent of Vanderbilt shot a scintillating 10-under 62 in his afternoon round, turning in a card that featured nine birdies and an eagle against just one bogey. At 12-under, he is three strokes behind his teammate Moll heading into Thursday's final round action.
Along with Moll and Sargent, Vandy junior Cole Sherwood (69-65) also resides in the top-10, tied for eighth at 10-under par.Checking in with @GordonSargent5 after an historic day for the Dores in Georgia.#AnchorDown pic.twitter.com/tFzLpr67pL
— Vanderbilt Men's Golf (@VandyMGolf) September 7, 2022
Vanderbilt tees off with Oklahoma at 8:24 a.m. ET off the first tee. The Sooners and Commodores were last paired in the final round of the 2022 NCAA Championship, where they tied for first in stroke play. Live scoring for the final round will be available on Golfstat.com.