Jackson Van Paris picked a good place to pick up his first collegiate win.
The junior at Vanderbilt captured the inaugural St. Andrews Links Collegiate on Tuesday in Scotland, shooting 9-under 131 on the Jubilee Course to win by three shots over teammate Cole Sherwood. The duo helped Vanderbilt lock up the top spot for Wednesday’s match play, where the No. 3 Commodores will take on top-ranked North Carolina in the championship match at the Old Course at St. Andrews.
The St. Andrews Links Collegiate features the North Carolina, Vanderbilt, Georgetown and Notre Dame men’s and women’s golf teams. The squads faced off Monday and Tuesday in 36 holes of stroke play. Come Wednesday, there will be match play on both sides.
On the women’s side, North Carolina will also face Vanderbilt, while the Georgetown and Notre Dame teams will battle for third place.
Listen to @JacksonVanParis discuss his victory at the inaugural St Andrews Links Collegiate!!! #AnchorDown pic.twitter.com/NVbwNRz2y4
— Vanderbilt Men’s Golf (@VandyMGolf) October 24, 2023
Van Paris fired rounds of 64 and 67 to take the title. Sherwood shot 68-66 to earn runner-up honors. North Carolina’s Peter Fountain finished solo third at 5 under.
In the team competition, Vanderbilt shot 23 under with the Tar Heels finishing five shots behind. Both men and women used a 6-count-5 scoring system instead of the usual 5-count-4 for stroke play.
Stars Gordon Sargent for Vanderbilt and David Ford for North Carolina didn’t play at the course the duo won the Walker Cup at last month because last week, they helped the U.S. win the World Amateur Team Championship in Abu Dhabi.
On the women’s side, it was North Carolina’s Kayla Smith earning medalist honors, finishing at 2-under 138. She won by two shots over Vanderbilt’s Ava Merrill. The Tar Heel women also earned the top seed for match play, finishing at 19 over with Vanderbilt coming in second at 29 over.
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