Nov./Dec. 2017 Commodore Nation

NOV/DEC 2017

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CONTENTS

8

Abbey in the air

Vandy golf’s Carlson also a licensed pilot

12

Senior Citizens

Veteran Dores poised for big year in men’s hoops

Walker’s got game

16

Women’s hoops sophomore boasts football background

Barnes named to Team USA

23

Assistant bowling coach headed to World Championships

24

My Game

Men’s golf’s Theo Humphrey

vucommodores.com

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VANDERBILT COMPLIANCE

NATION Administrative

Compliance requires constant vigilance on the part of all of us who are associated with Vanderbilt University, and knowledge is the first step toward being compliant.

We are proud to have your loyal support, dedication and enthusiasm for Vanderbilt athletics. As we strive for continued excellence, we will always seek the highest standard of ethical conduct. With your assistance, we are confident we can continue to meet this goal. Remember, compliance is everyone’s responsibility.

Chancellor: Nicholas S. Zeppos Director of Athletics: David Williams II

Editorial Publisher: Vanderbilt University Editor:

Zac Ellis

Designer:

Keith Wood

Assistant Athletic Director/ Communications: Kyle Parkinson

Anchor Down, David Williams, II Athletic Director

Photography:

Daniel Dubois Steve Green Joe Howell John Russell Anne Rayner Susan Urmy

Contributors:

Compliance questions? Please contact: Erin Adkins Director of Compliance/Assistant 615/322-2083 erin.adkins@vanderbilt.edu

Andrew Turner Assistant Director of Compliance Recruiting/Compliance Coordinator 615/322-4543 andrew.turner@vanderbilt.edu

Follow Vanderbilt Compliance @VandyCompliance

Like Vanderbilt Compliance facebook.com/VandyCompliance

Andy Boggs Frederick Breedon

Larry Leathers

Kyle Parkinson

Catherine Hilley

Vanderbilt University Student Athletics Mission Statement We prepare student-athletes to become leaders and champions in life by placing the highest values on integrity, character, sportsmanship and victory.

POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to National Commodore Club, 2601 Jess Neely Drive, Nashville, TN 37212.

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When you join the NCC, you will also receive game day benefits including invitations to pregame events and the opportunity to request postseason tickets.

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November/December 2017

INSIDE MCGUGIN Lacrosse joins American Athletic Conference

TERRY WYATT

Fernanda Contreras

Contreras claims ITA title Fernanda Contreras etched her name into the Vanderbilt women’s tennis history books in October by becoming the Commodores’ first Riviera/ITA Singles Tournament Champion.

Contreras faced off against 29thranked Aliona Bolsova of Florida Atlantic for the title. Contreras managed to win eight straight matches through qualifying and main draw rounds to reach the finals. The junior, ranked No. 63 nationally, upset every opponent along her path to take home the most prestigious tournament championship of the fall. With the win, the Austin,

Texas native became Vanderbilt’s first Riviera/ITA singles champion and joined associate head coach Aleke Tsoubanos (Doubles, 2002/2003), Sarah Riske (Doubles, 2002) and Kelly Schmandt (Doubles, 2003) as the only Riviera/ITA champions overall in school history.

Contreras clinched the championship on her 20th birthday on Oct. 8. The title secured a spot for Contreras in the 2017 Oracle ITA National Fall Championships, which took place November 1-5 in Palm Desert, California.

Vanderbilt lacrosse will have a new conference home beginning in 2019. The Commodores will join the American Athletic Conference as part of a new six-team women’s lacrosse league, American Commissioner Mike Aresco announced last month.

Women’s lacrosse will become the American’s 22nd sport beginning with the 2019 season. The six-team league will be comprised of current American members University of Cincinnati, University of Connecticut, East Carolina University and Temple University, as well as Vanderbilt University and the University of Florida.

The American becomes the 16th Division I conference to sponsor women’s lacrosse. Vanderbilt spent the last three years—and will spend this upcoming year—in the BIG EAST. Prior to the Commodores’ stint in the BIG EAST, they were founding members of the American Lacrosse Conference in 2002, when the Dores claimed the conference championship in their inaugural season. The Dores made two other appearances in the conference championship game during their time in the AAC and made six trips to the NCAA tournament.

Austin named chair of SEC Basketball Leadership Council

vucommodores.com

Larry Austin

JOE HOWELL

Vanderbilt’s Larry Austin, Jr., joined Kentucky’s Alyssa Rice in being voted chairs of the Southeastern Conference Men’s and Women’s Basketball Leadership Councils earlier this fall.

Austin, who will serve as men’s chair, and Rice, who will serve as women’s chair, were selected by a vote of their peers at a meeting of the SEC Basketball Leadership Councils in Birmingham. One male representative and one female representative from each of the SEC’s 14 institutions comprise the two councils.

“I’m really honored and blessed to be able to have this opportunity to represent not only our men’s basketball program and Vanderbilt University, but also to represent the SEC,” said Austin “I believe this oppor-

tunity will continue to help me grow and become a better leader Austin, a transfer point guard from Xavier University, will attend a portion of the SEC Spring Meetings in May. Part of the group will attend the SEC Athletics Directors meeting in March.

In 2016, the SEC introduced new Student-Athlete Leadership Councils in football and men’s and women’s basketball. The council joins the longstanding Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) in providing student-athletes with additional opportunities to engage with campus leaders and conference office staff.

COMMODORE NATION

7

ABBEY CARLSON COMM NATION

n Abbey Carlson flashes a smile before logging a little flying time in Florida.

Carlson Takes to the Sky Away from golf, Vanderbilt sophomore harbors passion for aviation

By Zac Ellis

Lake Mary, Florida offered an Eagle’s Nest Project class, which allowed students to build an FAA-certified airplane from start to finish. Carlson decided to give it a shot.

The prep golfer dove headfirst into the project. As part of a team, Carlson helped construct a single-engine RV-12

8

November/December 2017

in the span of 180 days. The process itself was arduous, she recalls.

“The instruction manual was about three inches thick,” Carlson said.

Still, the experience was rewarding, so much so that it inspired Carlson to acquire her own pilot’s license. She became a licensed pilot in 2016, just as she arrived at Vanderbilt as a freshman on the Commodores’ women’s golf team. Since then Carlson has logged

more than 50 hours of flying time, including solo stints between Orlando and St. Augustine back home in Florida.

These days, Carlson is tasked with dominating the golf course in the SEC. But some of her fondest memories remain in the air.

“It’s amazing to have control of an airplane,” Carlson said. “You have the whole world at your fingertips.”

Carlson, just a sophomore, might also JOHN RUSSELL

The aviation bug first bit Abbey Carlson when she was a junior in high school. Circle Christian High in

have the world at her fingertips in collegiate golf. She earned a spot on the SEC All-Freshman team in 2016 after finishing second on the team in stroke average (74.46). Carlson put together a low round of 68 in the second round of the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown last October.

The second-year Commodore followed a superb freshman campaign with a hot start to 2017. At the 17th annual Mason Rudolph Women’s Championship at the Vanderbilt Legends Club in September, Carlson carded an individual fourth-place finish with a 10-under-par total of 206. That score marked Carlson’s best finish of her collegiate career.

As a freshman, Carlson sometimes struggled to put a full round together. But her performance at the Mason Rudolph was the result of an offseason full of hard work. She climbed to No. 74 in GolfWeek.

vucommodores.com

com’s Women’s Collegiate Individual Rankings, sharing a top 100 spot with Vanderbilt freshman Louise Yu (66).

“I put in a lot of work within my shorter shots, within 100 yards, in the summer,” she said. “It really helped me get a few more birdie opportunities, and a few more putts started to fall, too.”

Carlson was a two-time AJGA Rolex All-American as a prep golfer and a big get on the recruiting trail for Vanderbilt head coach Greg Allen. Today, Carlson is an engineering major and an All-SECcaliber talent, one hoping to help the Commodores win an SEC title for the first time since 2014.

“Abbey could be the poster child of a Vanderbilt student-athlete,” Allen said.

“Here’s a kid who we’re asking to make a three-footer, and she can get up there and land an airplane. I knew when we

had our first team meeting here, Abbey wasn’t afraid to speak up about goals, about what she wanted to do, about our program. She’s already becoming a great leader for us.”

Vanderbilt finished fourth as a team in the Mason Rudolph and finished 10th at the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in October. But Carlson said the Dores can still get better. That starts with minimizing mistakes and capitalizing on opportunities.

Carlson knows what it takes to land an airplane, a process in which you can’t cut corners. Now the sophomore hopes to utilize her own process in helping Vanderbilt navigate the SEC. “On a daily basis, I just try to be a leader by example,” Carlson said. “I don’t feel like playing well at tournament influences that. It’s awesome to be a low finisher, but I want to be an encouragement to my team no matter how I play.”

COMMODORE NATION

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November/December 2017

ANN HOLLIS, BA’07 Yearbook entry: Economics major, finance minor and VandyManiac LinkedIn profile: Ten-plus years in investments and financial planning. Community volunteer.

Item checked off your bucket list: Seeing Vanderbilt win the 2014 College World Series Ann’s plan for Vanderbilt: Establishing the Ann W. Hollis Athletic Scholarship with the proceeds from a life insurance policy to support future student-athletes

JOE HOWELL

The moment is hard to forget for Matthew Fisher-Davis.

Last March, in the waning moments of Vanderbilt’s firstround NCAA tournament matchup with Northwestern in Salt Lake City, the Commodores had rallied from 15 points down and taken a 66-65 lead on a Riley LaChance layup with 18 seconds to play. With one more strong possession of defense, Vanderbilt looked poised to punch its ticket to the second round.

Instead, Fisher-Davis made a mistake under the brightest of spotlights. The sharpshooting guard mistook Vanderbilt’s one-point lead for a one-point deficit and intentionally fouled Northwestern guard Bryant McIntosh with 14.6 seconds left.

That sent McIntosh to the free-throw line, where he calmly sank two shots to give the Wildcats a 67-66 lead.

Northwestern would go on to cement a 68-66 win over Vanderbilt. That night, Fisher-Davis was forced to endure a long and solemn flight back to Nashville. Never mind that the then-junior had sparked the rally by scoring 14 of his team-high 22 points in the second half. Though his teammates and coach Bryce Drew offered words of support, the gravity of the mistake weighed on Fisher-Davis all offseason.

Now, as Fisher-Davis prepares for his final season on West End, that moment in Salt Lake City is a fire that still burns within him.

“It motivates me a lot,” Fisher-Davis said. “I don’t want that to be my last taste of the tournament. It makes me want to get back there even more.”

Fisher-Davis will get his chance as one of three seniors on Vanderbilt’s 2017-18 roster. He joins LaChance, a quick-shooting guard, and steady forward Jeff Roberson in forming a veteran trio that will spearhead the Dores this season. It’s a group that

I don’t want that to be my last taste of the tournament. It makes me want —Matthew Fisher-Davis

By Zac Ellis

After tournament heartbreak, senior Dores ready for next step under Bryce Drew

We showed that if you buckle down and trust the team, you can go a long way.

—Jeff Roberson

JOE HOWELL

has yet to win an NCAA tournament game during their Commodore careers.

Roberson said the seniors plan to change that.

“We joke that we’ve been here three years, but we feel like those guys where you’re like, ‘Dang, you’re still there?’” Roberson said. “We’ve been through so much, two different coaches, two different eras and a lot of great players. We’ve seen a lot, and hopefully we can use that as experience.”

The Dores enjoyed a memorable run last season during Drew’s first year on campus. Following an 8-10 start, the Commodores won 10 of their final 14 games, including three matchups with ranked Florida. Vanderbilt reached the semifinals of the SEC tournament and secured a berth in the NCAA tournament opposite Northwestern.

Drew became the first Vanderbilt coach to reach the Big Dance in his first season. But Fisher-Davis said he feels a sense of continuity in the locker room this fall after one year with Drew’s staff.

“I feel like we’re more relaxed and the coaches are more relaxed,” Fisher-Davis said. “They’ve established what they want from our program moving forward. We all understand that. Coach Drew found his identity and what he wanted from us, and he holds everybody to the same standard.”

This year, the program loses a pair of accomplished seniors in All-SEC center Luke Kornet and guard Nolan Cressler.

But Fisher-Davis (13.9 points per game), Roberson (10.8) and LaChance (10.5) return as three of that team’s top four scorers.

That trio accounted for 50 percent of Vanderbilt’s total scoring last season.

Junior Joe Toye, who started in 13 games a year ago, also returns after averaging 6.4 points and 2.6 rebounds per game.

Meanwhile, Vanderbilt welcomes six newcomers: true freshmen guards Saben Lee (6-2, 174, Tempe, Arizona.) and Maxwell Evans (6-2, 186, Houston, Texas), true freshman big man Ejike Obinna (6-10, 234, Enugu, Nigeria), redshirt sophomore transfers Matt Ryan (6-8, 209 forward, Notre Dame) and Yanni Wetzell (6-10, 235 forward/center, St. Mary’s (Texas), and freshman walk-on guard Isaiah Rice (5-11, 189, Carmel, Indiana.).

With a new-look roster in tow, LaChance said it’s on the seniors to help this team gel.

“I feel like we’ve been here forever, but it’s a good feeling,” LaChance said. “At the same time, I feel like I just started playing college basketball yesterday. Me, Matt and Jeff, we’re the three seniors. We’ve been through the ringer three times now.

Now we’re trying to mold these young guys and take them under our wing.”

The path to a return trip to the NCAA tournament won’t get easier for Vanderbilt in the SEC. Last season, the conference sent five teams to the Big Dance, with three—Florida, Kentucky and South Carolina—reaching the Elite Eight. The Commodores notched wins over the Gamecocks and Gators during the regular season, a notion that salted the wounds of Vanderbilt fans everywhere.

But last season’s turnaround lent credibility to Drew’s message. The Dores opened the year with a 95-71 loss to Marquette, the first setback during an 8-10 start. That same team managed to retool its approach and reach the NCAA tournament. Roberson said the Commodores can build off that success on the heels of the newest senior class.

“We showed that if you buckle down and trust the team, you can go a long way,” Roberson said. “But the way we ended last year is motivation in itself. My class hasn’t won a tournament game yet. That’s something we want to do, and it starts now.”

As for Fisher-Davis, and those painful tournament memories? The senior is more than ready to bounce back.

“That’s the kind of adversity you face throughout your career,” Fisher-Davis said. “I’ve grown stronger from it.”

We’re the three seniors.

We’ve been through the ringer three times now.

—Riley LaChance

JOE HOWELL

n Vanderbilt’s three returning seniors have never won an NCAA tournament game during their Commodores careers. This season, they hope to change that.

14

November/December 2017

VANDY BASEBALL No. 2 program in nation Vanderbilt baseball continues to garner national recognition.

In September, D1Baseball.com named Vanderbilt as the No. 2 baseball program in the country in its bi-annual top 100 rankings. The Commodores trail just one team in the rankings—fellow SEC East rival and 2017 NCAA champion Florida.

D1Baseball.com began ranking baseball programs in 2015 with the ultimate goal of identifying programs in the best shape in the current college baseball landscape, while also keeping an eye on the next 5-10 years. The inaugural 2015 rankings pegged the Commodores in the No. 1 spot on the heels of a 2014 NCAA championship and a national runner-up finish in 2015. The Dores posted 43 wins in 2016 and went 36-25-1 last season before the season came to an end in another NCAA Super Regional.

D1Baseball.com praised the work of Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin.

“Vandy players form a very special connection with each other and with head coach Tim Corbin, his family and his staff, because Corbin has created a true family culture that prizes serving others above serving oneself,” the site writes.

“He’s also built an incredible on-field resume since taking over a program.”

Since arriving at Vanderbilt in 2003, Corbin has led the Dores to 13 regionals, seven super regionals and three appearances in the College World Series. Fifteen Commodores have been drafted in the first round under Corbin’s watch, including pitcher Kyle Wright (fifth overall, Atlanta Braves) and outfielder Jeren Kendall (23rd overall, Los Angeles Dodgers) in the 2017 MLB Draft.

Vanderbilt has won four NCAA Regional titles in the last five years and figures to field another talented squad in 2017. twenty two returning letter winners are joined by a 17-man freshman class that has been tabbed as the

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best in the country by Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball.

Earlier this fall, Baseball America recognized Vanderbilt’s incoming 2017 recruiting class as the No. 1 class in the country. The 17-man class features 10 pitchers and seven position players who will suit up for the Commodores.

It’s the fifth time Baseball America has named Vanderbilt with the No. 1 recruiting class (2005, 2011, 2012, 2015) and the 13th straight year in which the Dores have had a top 25 class, both Baseball America records.

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Cierra Walker: Punt, Pass and Kick.

From Hardwood to Gridiron Women’s basketball’s Walker once starred in NFL’s Punt, Pass and Kick

By Zac Ellis

Don’t let Cierra Walker’s 5-foot-8 frame fool you. She once considered suiting up to play high school football.

“My dad was all for it, but my mom was like, ‘You aren’t getting hurt,’” Walker recalled. “Instead, I played powderpuff football and was the quar-

n Oregon native Cierra Walker (10) played in 22 games as a true freshman on Vanderbilt’s women’s basketball team.

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terback all four years of high school.”

A penchant for pigskin was nothing new to Walker, now a sophomore guard on Vanderbilt women’s basketball team.

She discovered a talent for football as an eight-year-old competitor in the NFL’s “Punt, Pass & Kick” competition.

Walker’s father, Cliff, had participated in the program as a kid, so the younger Walker decided to give it a try.

The contest scores contestants on one pass, one punt and one kick, all weighed against participants in the same age group. Soon, “Punt, Pass & Kick” became a yearly ritual for Walker. She was so skilled that she became a threetime national finalist and competed at halftime of three NFL playoff games.

Walker is known to send a kick sailing beyond 40 yards. But her first performance in front of a packed playoff crowd—at an Indianapolis Colts game when she was nine—required a different kind of talent.

“I was so nervous,” Walker said.

“I’m just this little girl at the time. It was so nerve-wracking.”

Compared to that kind of pressure, Walker feels right at home on the hardwood at Memorial Gym. The Oregon City, Oregon, native was a member of head coach Stephanie White’s first recruiting class in 2016, the highestrated class in Commodores history.

That five-member group played a big role in White’s first season on West End. Walker provided much of that freshman spark. She played in 22 games in 2016-17, earning 12 starts before stress fractures sidelined her for the bulk of the season’s second half. Walker scored in double-figures six times, including a career-high 21 against SIUE on Dec. 3,

n Cierra Walker traveled to three NFL playoff games as a three-time national finalist in Punt, Pass and Kick, often competing at halftime in front of packed crowds.

and was regularly the team leader in assists.

The Commodores noticed an immediate impact from Walker’s freewheeling style.

“During nonconference play, we couldn’t take her off the floor,” White said. “She’s a high-IQ kid, she plays with good pace, she can shoot well and she can facilitate. Once she was injured, not having her out there hurt us.”

Now healthy, Walker expects bigger things as part of a seasoned sophomore class. That group played significant minutes in adjusting to college in 201617, landing forwards Kayla Overbeck and Erin Whalen on the SEC All-Freshman Team. This year, Vanderbilt also

adds six new faces to its roster: freshman guard Chelsie Hall, freshman forward Autumn Newby, freshman center Blessing Ejiofor, freshman center Paige Warren, Purdue graduate transfer Bree Horrocks and Boston College transfer Mariella Fasoula. Fasoula must sit out this coming season to fulfill NCAA transfer requirements but joins Ejiofor, Horrocks and Warren as four new players listed at 6-4 or taller.

The key, however, might be Walker and the sophomores, who are now wellversed in White’s culture at Vanderbilt.

“We were thrown into the fire last year,” Walker said. “But having that experience helps us. Now we’re not as nervous. We know the offense, we

know what Coach White expects, we know what team expectations are.”

White knew Walker was special during the first team gathering at the coach’s house. In White’s backyard, the then-freshman threw a couple of tight spirals with a football. That prompted a double-take from her new head coach.

Now, after a year at Vanderbilt, White is accustomed to Walker’s athleticism.

The coach expects plenty from the skilled sophomore this season, as well.

“I was like, no wonder she can play football,” White said. “Her talents don’t surprise me. Cierra is very focused, very competitive and even stubborn at times. To be great, you have to be.”

“Before Currey Ingram, Efraim had no time for sports with all the tutors and homework. Now, he excels academically, gets the help he needs at school, and is a leader in two sports.”

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MY TAKE

Zac Ellis

Barnes named to Team USA

The 1955 season was a historic one for Vanderbilt football.

Josie Barnes has successfully competed in nearly every tournament at every level in her beloved sport of bowling. But one omission stood as a per-

The Commodores finished the regular season 7-3 under head coach Art Guepe, securing the first bowl berth in program history. The Dores landed a spot in the Gator Bowl opposite No. 8 Auburn on New Year’s Eve. Quarterback Don Orr wasn’t about to miss his shot at history. Despite a dislocated elbow suffered in a 20-14 loss to Tennessee on Nov. 26, Orr made it his goal to suit up for the Gator Bowl.

“They didn’t know whether I’d play or not,” Orr recalls.

“But I was determined to play, and I had therapy and they put me in a cast. On game day they taped up my elbow to keep me from overextending. So that’s how I went out to play.”

Indeed, Orr made the most of his bowl appearance. He led Vanderbilt to a 25-13 win over Auburn, with the Commodores’ defense forcing six Tiger turnovers. Orr earned MVP honors after running for two touchdowns, passing for a third and recovering one fumble as a safety on defense. With the win, Orr cemented his legacy as the leader of Vanderbilt’s first-ever bowl team.

What does Orr remember best from the Gator Bowl?

“Everything going right in that game,” he said with a laugh.

Orr’s legacy lives on in the SEC, which will honor the former Vanderbilt quarterback in its 2017 class of SEC Football Legends. The 14-member class will be recognized at the SEC Football “Weekend of Champions” Dec. 1–2 in Atlanta. The annual SEC Legends Dinner presented by AT&T will be held Fri., Dec. 1, at the Hyatt Regency in Atlanta, and the group will also be recognized prior to the SEC Football Championship Game at the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sat., Dec. 2.

Following Vanderbilt’s Gator Bowl victory, Orr, a native of Miami, went on to cap his senior season in 1956 with a 5-5 record. Orr graduated from Vanderbilt with a degree in electrical engineering, and despite being drafted by the NFL’s Chicago Bears in the 26th round, he joined the military and was stationed at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. Following his military stint, Orr worked for Nashville Bridge Company and later Nashville Machine Company, retiring from the latter in 2006.

But Orr kept his hand in football by becoming a referee.

His NFL officiating career spanned 25 seasons, over which he helped referee three Super Bowls (XVII, XXIV, XXVIII). He retired from the NFL in 1996.

Earlier this fall, the athletic department honored Orr as a member of its 2017 Hall of Fame class, recognizing what he and his entire 1955 team accomplished.

“A Vanderbilt scholarship has provided a life for me that my entire family has enjoyed,” Orr said. “I was able to get on the ground floor of a young company and watch it grow. It’s just been amazing what a Vanderbilt scholarship has meant to me.”

sonal blemish on the Vanderbilt assistant bowling coach’s glistening career: Barnes had never competed at the World Championships.

That will change this fall. Last month, Barnes was announced as a member of the six-woman 2017 World Championship Team, which will compete for gold and glory Nov. 24–Dec. 4 in Las Vegas.

Barnes readily admits she has always coveted a chance to represent Team USA at the World Championships.

“This is the thing I’ve always wanted,” said Barnes, a former All-American student-athlete at Vanderbilt. “The World Championship is our one opportunity to compete for a world title. It is similar in format to the PABCON (which includes North, Central and South America teams) except this includes the world. It’s the most prestigious event in bowling.”

The 29-year-old assistant bowling coach at Vanderbilt is the newcomer for Team USA, which returns five members from its 2015 World Championship squad. Still, Barnes is no stranger to international competition.

Barnes, a two-time NCAA Player of the Year and member of Vanderbilt’s NCAA Championship team in 2007, is a five-time Team USA member following five appearances on Junior Team USA. She has won more than a dozen international medals representing the red, white and blue.

Barnes’ teammates are a “Who’s Who” of NCAA bowling. Barnes will join Stefanie Johnson of McKinney, Texas.; Kelly Kulick of Union, New Jersey; Danielle McEwan of Stony Point, New York; Shannon O’Keefe of O’Fallon, Illinois.; and Shannon Pluhowsky of Dayton, Ohio. O’Keefe, who led McKendree to the 2017 NCAA championship, is the only other collegiate coach on the roster.

Team USA will compete in six events including singles, doubles, trios, team, all-events and Masters disciplines on the South Point Bowling Plaza Lanes in Las Vegas.

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MY GAME

Theo Humphrey

This fall, Vanderbilt senior Theo Humphrey became just the second player in Commodore history to reach the semifinals of the U.S. Amateur at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles. Commodore Nation caught up with Humphrey to reflect on his finish at the Amateur, discuss coach Scott Limbaugh’s impact at Vanderbilt and look ahead to his senior season.

years in a row. Coach Limbaugh always says you can never be distracted by outside forces. If there’s a camera behind me, that doesn’t mean I swing harder. I have to focus on making sure what I’m doing works.

CN: How has playing for a premier program like Vanderbilt prepared you for big moments?

TH: During my three years here, everything we’ve done has prepared me for moments like that. No matter the spotlight, if you have consistency in your game and you can focus on those no matter what, you’re going to be really successful.

CN: Vanderbilt golf has come a long way during Limbaugh’s tenure in Nashville.

What has he done to shape the program?

Commodore Nation: Take us back to your performance at the U.S. Amateur.

What was that experience like?

Theo Humphrey: It was a really special experience and something I’ll look back upon with great memories, even if it didn’t end exactly how I wanted it to. I went into the U.S. Amateur feeling like one of the players to beat that week. But even if you don’t get it done in those situations, the more you put yourself there, the more you learn. Eventually, things are going to go your way.

CN: You played 119 holes during your run at the U.S. Amateur. How grueling was that tournament?

TH: Our team has guys who practice a lot and guys who play a lot. I’m one of those guys who just likes to play a lot of golf. Plus, you don’t think about how many holes you play during a tournament like that. You think about staying in the moment and doing your best on each shot.

CN: You played for a national television audience that weekend. Did you feel any added pressure?

TH: At Vanderbilt, we’ve played for big audiences on Golf Channel during NCAAs, and we’ve been lucky enough to be part of the NCAA championships three

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November/December 2017

TH: Coach Limbaugh always has a little message for us, always says the right things at the right time. He’s very passionate and energetic about what he does. His messages are simple, direct and effective, and I like things simple. Coach Limbaugh has made me a much better player, and the program has improved along the way. It’s been fun to be a part of this.

CN: Rumor has it Limbaugh is pretty intense in the weight room.

TH: Coach knows none of us like that 5:30 a.m. wakeup call on Mondays and Wednesdays. But he is really intense and takes that part of our training really seriously. Coach believes that if you develop a mindset in the gym, that will translate to the golf course.

CN: You guys opened the 2017 fall season ranked No. 2 in the country. As a senior, how important is this last go-round for you?

TH: It’s crazy to think this is my last year at Vanderbilt. It seems like yesterday that I was getting ready for my first tournament. Of course, my role is different now, and I’m the guy who has to help the freshmen out and offer as much advice as I can. But in golf terms, I still go out and do the best I can for my teammates. We’ve had a lot of success all three years I’ve been here in NCAAs. But to make it that far and end with the sadness, that really motivates me to get back there and hopefully go out on a high note this year.

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