ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Graduate student William Moll came up clutch in the quarterfinals of match play at the 2024 SEC Men’s Golf Championship, as he sank a putt on the 19th hole of his match on Saturday morning to give the No. 3-seeded Vanderbilt men’s golf team a 3-2 victory over No. 6-seed Florida.
Vanderbilt moves on to the semifinals at the 2024 SEC Men’s Championship, where the Dores will take on No. 7-seeded Texas A&M. Tee time against the Aggies is set for this afternoon at 1:30 p.m. CT. Fans can follow all of the action via live results at GolfStat.com.
It took an extra hole to claim a winner in a rematch of the SEC title match in each of the last two seasons. Moll clinched the quarterfinal victory for Vanderbilt with a four-foot putt on the 19th hole of his match with Florida’s Matthew Kress. The Commodores advance to the semifinals of the SEC Championship for the fourth-straight season, while it is Vanderbilt’s fifth overall final four appearance at the conference championship.
“First off, tip your hat off to Florida. They were resilient today, but so were our guys,” said Vanderbilt men’s golf head coach Scott Limbaugh. “This is the SEC Championship and you’ve got to bring your best. There is no other option. I’m super proud of Matthew for winning his match and continuing to play good golf. Jackson was really solid in his first SEC Championship match and got the job done. William is in the back for a reason, because he has done this a lot. He has made a lot of big putts and gotten a lot of big points for us in his career and he did that again today. We’re going to need to be a little bit better this afternoon. We need our fans to hang in there with us and bring the energy.”
Graduate student Matthew Riedel gave Vanderbilt its first point of the quarterfinals, as the All-American collected a 6 and 5 win over Florida’s Tyler Wilkes. Junior Jackson Van Paris followed suit, as the Pinehurst, North Carolina, native defeated Parker Bell of the Gators, 3 & 3, to give the Commodores an early 2-0-0 advantage.
Florida was able to get a point back and cut the Commodore lead to 2-1-0 after senior Cole Sherwood dropped a 1-Up decision to Jack Turner. Junior Gordon Sargent battled with Florida’s Ian Gilligan before falling in 20 holes, as the Gators tied the match at 2-2 to set up Moll’s heroics.
Coverage of the 2024 SEC Men’s Golf Championship semifinal matches will stream live on SEC Network+ starting at 3 p.m. CT. Fans can click the link here to watch.
For more information on the Vanderbilt men’s golf team, follow @VandyMGOLF on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter/X.
