Top-ranked Vanderbilt widens lead at Cabo Collegiate

Paced by a 6-under-par 65 from freshman Wells Williams, Vanderbilt expanded its lead to 13 strokes through 36 holes over Ole Miss after two rounds of the Cabo Collegiate being held at the Twin Dolphin Club in Los Cabos, Mexico.

“With some of these pins today, I had to convince myself that 25 feet was the good spot to be and I felt like I did that on most of the holes,” said Williams. “On some of the holes where the pins were easier and you could attack, I did a good job of just getting up there and then I made some putts.”

Williams was bogey-free with six birdies and senior Matthew Riedel added his second consecutive 3-under 68 as they shared the individual scoring lead at 6-under 136.

“Obviously for Wells, the freshman, to shoot a bogey-free 65 on a day like today it says a lot about the steps he’s taken,” said Vanderbilt coach Scott Limbaugh. “Our assistant coach Gator Todd is doing a great job helping bring him along. He is good at helping young people understand what acceptable shots are and not trying to be so perfect. Wells is doing the playing and playing at a high level and being coachable and teachable.”

Fifth-year senior Reid Davenport and defending NCAA individual champion Gordon Sargent posted a pair of 70s for the Commodores, who are vying to be the first back-to-back champions since Oklahoma State, who won in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Host Arkansas won in 2010 and 2011.

The Commodores stand at 15-under-par 553 followed by Ole Miss at 2 under 566, Texas Tech at 567, 2020 champion Arizona State at 568 and host Arkansas at 578.

“We were talking that it was like a mini-national championship,” said Vanderbilt’s Riedel. “A little difficult, desert golf with the greens getting kind of firm. You don’t get to see that very often at a college event at a lot of college events 30 under wins. It’s nice to have to think a little more about approach shots. It’s weird to leave your driver where you can putt and get up and down from. It’s definitely and better and different test. It’s fun.”

Ole Miss was led by senior Brett Schell (68), senior Sarut Vongchaisit (70) and freshman Patton Samuels (71).

The extra nine strokes in their lead is not a cushion that Limbaugh and Vanderbilt will take lightly.

“We have a lot of respect for all of these teams,” Limbaugh said. “They are capable of playing unbelievable rounds. We have a standard that we are trying to stay above. That is going to be our focus. We have a Vandy standard. It’s not necessarily about score but how you go about things. That is my expectation for the guys to stay above that. That will be the challenge tonight. We are excited for another great test tomorrow.”

Stanford junior Michael Thorbjornsen matched Williams’ bogey-free 65 as the day’s low scorers.

by Pete Kowalski, Special to AmateurGolf.com