Six of our players scored in double figures Saturday as we took care of business against the Florida Gators, 88-72, before 10,133 fans at Memorial Coliseum in Nashville.

Liam Robbins led us with 18 and added 9 boards and 5 blocks. Wow, the big fella is on fire. Senior point guard Ezra Manjon added 15, 4 assists and 0 turnovers as he continues to excel running the point. Tyrin Lawrence, who is playing on a terrifically high level, added 13 and 7 boards. Trey Thomas, Myles Stute and freshman Colin Smith, who is really coming on, each added 11. Myles was 3 for 9 from trifecta, Tryin was 2 for 2 and Trey hit a bucket from triple as well. We were 10 for 24 from 3, 42%. We also out-rebounded the Gators, 42-31, which is terrific. We only turned it over 6 times, an area we have made a vast improvement on in the last month or so. We were 16 for 23 from the stripe, which is 70%, pretty solid. Would like to see that get to 75-80% because that’ll win a lot more games.

We are now 16-13 overall and 9-7 in the SEC. We are presently tied for 5th in the SEC. And with 2 W’s this week, we could very well get in the top 4 of the conference and get a double bye for the SEC Tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville starting next Wednesday, March 8th, and continuing through Sunday, 3/12, with the Championship game at 12 PM CT on ESPN that Sunday, March 8th.

But we’ve got a major challenge to concentrate on tomorrow night, Wednesday, in Rupp Arena against the now No. 23 Kentucky Wildcats. The game starts at 6 PM CT Wednesday and will be televised by the SEC Network.

Kentucky has been on fire lately including an 86-54 blasting of Auburn at Rupp this past Saturday. Big man Oscar Tshiebwe, all 6’9”, 260 pounds of him, finished with 22 points and 17 boards. He will be a load for Liam and Quinton Millora-Brown to handle, but I have faith in our two guys. Antonio Reeves (21 against Auburn) and Cason Wallace (19 points) are two major threats as well. Tshiebwe is averaging 16.4 ppg and 12.8 rebounds. Reeves, a 6’5”, shooting guard who transferred from Illinois State for this season, is averaging 13.4 ppg. Jacob Toppin, who had 13 against Auburn and is a 6’9”, 205 power forward, is averaging 12.1 and 6.8 boards. And Wallace, a 6’4” 193 freshman guard, is averaging 11.9 points and has 121 assists on the season. One thing about Kentucky, they always have a lot of length. We will be severely challenged on both ends of the floor.

Liam is leading us with 15.5 ppg and 7.1 boards and 82 blocks in 25 games. That’s over 3 per game. He brings a lot to the court for us. We’ll need him to play a huge role tomorrow night if we expect to be successful in Rupp. Tyrin is playing superb basketball and is averaging 11.4 ppg and 4.1 boards. Jordan Wright is averaging 9.3 ppg and 4.6 rebounds per game. Really need Jordan to step it up in scoring and on the boards tomorrow night. He didn’t play a lot on Saturday, so I hope he gets his shot in Rupp and he excels. Need his on-court skills and his leadership. Myles is averaging 9.1 and is 68 for 177 on 3’s, 38%. He’ll need to stroke it from 3 tomorrow night. So will Trey. That would be a huge boost for our chances. Some coaches like to say we need X amount of 3’s per game to knock off a favored opponent. I’d say we’ll need 10 to 12 tomorrow night and we’re certainly capable of doing that and even better. Ezra is averaging 8.9 and has 110 assists on the season in 29 games, that’s close to 4 per game. He only has 38 turnovers, which is a 3:1 ratio. Outstanding.

We’ll need everybody to contribute tomorrow night. Colin Smith has become a weapon for us. We’ll need Colin to be an impact player against Kentucky. He’s not a freshman any more. Technically he is, but he’s played a lot of college basketball now, and has been through plenty of SEC battles, so he’s expected to be an asset for us tomorrow night.

If the guys can just go into Rupp and believe we can win there, we’ve got a good shot. Should be fun. Nerve wracking but fun. Mississippi State in Memorial at 7:30 PM CT Saturday on the SEC Network. Need both of these, and one for sure to keep our NCAA Tournament hopes alive. Hopefully we can get both. You always have a shot in the SEC Tournament, but would like to handle business in the next two games to attain some serious momentum heading into Bridgestone.

Baseball playing well, but needs to hit, pitch in middle relief and field better

We took 2 out of three from then No.17 UCLA over the weekend after splitting a pair of mid-week games. We lost to Central Arkansas, surprisingly, 5-4, but they played an awesome game. We then hammered UAB, 13-1. Our starting pitching over the weekend of Carter Holton, Hunter Owen and Devin Futrell was terrific. And Nick Maldonado looks like the best closer in the country right now. Nick came in for the top of the 7th inning of our Sunday game against the Bruins and held them to one hit, 0 runs with 1 walk and 8 K’s in a 2-1 victory. That’s spectacular. That’s the kind of performance we’re going to see out of Nick all year. Nick with a lead gives us a good shot at winning every time he’s out there. Hopefully, we won’t have to bring him out in the 7th all the time, so we can keep his arm fresh. Futrell is 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA with 6 walks and 9 K’s. Holton is 1-0 with a 1.93 ERA with 5 walks and 11 K’s. Owen is 0-0 with a 2.08 ERA with 5 walks and 13 K’s. Feel great about our entire left handed starting pitchers on the weekend. Would like to see them not walk as many guys, but that should come with more reps. Nick has pitched 5 innings, given up 2 hits, 0 runs with a walk and 11 K’s.

Three areas we need to shore up are our middle relief, our bats and our defense, particularly at shortstop. If we do all three of those things, we’ve got a shot to do very well this season. We are presently 5-3 and No.5 in the country by Baseball America and No.7 by D1Baseball.com. LSU is No.1. Tennessee is No.3. Florida is No.8, A&M is No. 15, Alabama is 20 and South Carolina is 23. We have a game today versus Austin Peay at 4:30 PM CT on SEC Network+ and a weekend series of 3 games against Nebraska (Friday, 11 AM CT), No. 18 Maryland (Saturday, 11 AM CT) and Minnesota (Sunday at 6 PM CT). This is the 2023 Cambria College Classic in Minneapolis at U.S. Bank Stadium. Thankfully for the players and fans, it’s indoors. There’s some weather going on right now from California to the Northeast, so hopefully we won’t have any problems getting to Minneapolis. Big Ten Network+ will carry the games. Will keep you apprised of our progress in the great Midwest.

Football

Football started spring ball today. The Black and Gold Spring Game will be Saturday, April 8th, at the Vanderbilt Soccer and Lacrosse Complex as FirstBank Stadium is being renovated with the Vandy United Fund going partially towards stadium improvements. Should be an awesome place to watch a game when the season starts. Out first game is Saturday, August 26th versus Hawaii. We have out of conference games also against Alabama A&M at home, Saturday, 9/2. We’re @Wake Forest, Saturday, 9/9, and @UNLV, Saturday, 9/16. For the conference, we’re vs. Kentucky, Saturday, 9/23, vs. Missouri, 9/30, @Florida, 10/7, vs. Georgia, 10/14, Off, 10/21. @Ole Miss, 10/28, vs. Auburn, 11/4, @South Carolina, 11/11, and @Tennessee, 11/25. The vs. games are all home games. It’s never easy in the SEC, but hoping AJ Swann really materializes in year 2 under Clark and the staff. If our sophomore quarterback can do that and stay healthy, we’ve got a chance to win several games. Senior Ken Seals will be behind him and he’s a steady hand to have in relief if necessary. We’ve got a couple of others who can help under center, but we need AJ to be who we expect him to be. He showed flashes of greatness last season, so now he should be ready to take it to the next level as a collegiate quarterback. We need him to. Will have more on the team as spring progresses. I like what we look like at wide receiver with some studs on the perimeter. At running back, we’ll need our three freshmen to help Patrick Smith and Chase Gillespie. We’re pretty young at running back, but we have talent. O line should be solid. I really like out O Line coach, AJ Blazek. He did an amazing job with our linemen last season and I’m expecting more of the same this season.Tight end will have to develop. Defense should be even better in year 3 under Clark and company. Will keep you posted and have a detailed report after the spring game.

Brandon Miller, Alabama fiasco

Last week after seeing all the facts of the Brandon Miller related tragedy, I was starting to have some sympathy for the kid and maybe thinking about cutting him a little slack. But after he did the pat down pre-game introduction on Saturday, I am on totally opposite ends of the spectrum from Miller apologists Jay Bilas and Seth Greenberg. Alabama has been irresponsible and almost unlawful in their handling of this situation. And either Miller is incredibly stupid, or he just doesn’t care. I think it’s more of the latter because I’ve heard him talk and he sounds plenty smart.

It’s a travesty that Alabama is allowing the guy to play and taking the basketball factory approach for a guy who can maybe get them to the Final Four and win it all instead of showing compassion for Jamea Jonae Harris, the victim, her three year old son and her parents. It’s disgusting really.

I don’t know what to say about this exept this guy should not be playing college basketball right now. There are no more excuses for him. He put the final nail in the coffin with his actions on Saturday.

I’d love to say Alabama is going to do the right thing and their president, Stuart R. Bell, is going to override the dysfunctional leadership of Nate Oats and Greg Byrne, but I don’t see him doing it. He’s as complicit as they are, if not moreso. Could very well cost them going forward as more fans are going to blast Miller, with “lock him up,” comments. And if there is any humanity down there, it’ll start bothering him, the team, and Oats. And it’ll be justifiable. It’s sickening behavior by the entire university. A young woman has lost her life and Brandon Miller and Alabama just don’t seem to care. That’s tragic and inexcusable.

When I do my Peloton boxing classes at home, the instructors will play some Eminem songs to get you charged up. Eminem, one of the great rappers of all time, released his single Lose Yourself in 2002. In the song, he says, “You only got one shot, do not miss the chance,,,don’t blow this opportunity… it comes once in a lifetime.”

That’s what Tyrin Lawrence faced against Tennessee with the Commodores trailing a top 10 Tennessee team, 65-63, with less than one second remaining on the clock on Tuesday, February 8th. Tyrin was hovering in the right corner waiting for the ball when point guard Ezra Manjon worked the left baseline with time running down, and passed it to Tyrin in that corner. One shot. Less than one second left. Tyrin had his opportunity. And he converted.

That one shot has totally changed the trajectory of our men’s basketball team’s season in 2023. After defeating Ole Miss, 74-71, then hitting the shot, we went on to win @ Florida, @South Carolina, and at home versus Auburn. If we win tonight, we’ll tie the 2007-2008 Shane Foster team for six victories in a row in SEC play. That Shane Foster team won seven SEC games in a row. More importantly, with a victory tonight at LSU, we’ll move to 16-12 overall and 9-6 in the SEC. If Kentucky was to lose, we’d be tied for third in the SEC with Auburn, UT and Kentucky. But it’s a “one shot” deal every time out.

LSU has struggled. Coach Matt McMahon inherited a mess after Will Wade was fired after last season concluded, and a lot of the players on that team transferred. He brought in 6 transfers and they’ve had trouble winning in this conference. One of those transfers, KJ. Williams, from where McMahon coached the last several seasons at Murray State, successfully I might add, is a 6”10, 250 pond center who leads the Tigers in scoring at 16 points per game and rebounding at 7 per.

It’s @ LSU and they’d like nothing more than to knock us off. So we’ve got one shot in Baton Rouge tonight at 6 on the SEC Network.

And Liam Robbins and Ezra Manjon have been so good lately.

During the 5 game winning streak, Robbins has averaged 20 points and 10 boards. Wow. Manjon has 31 assists to 4 turnovers. He had the winning assist to Tyrin against Tennessee and sank the game winning contested lay-up against Auburn with 3 seconds left this past Saturday. Don’t get me started on the officiating at the end of that game. Liam and Ezra have been spectacular. Trey Thomas was all world against Auburn. He played a complete game and had a huge steal to turn the momentum of the game. He converted with a pass to Tyrin who slammed it home. Trey can really shoot the 3 when he’s on, make some awesome, majestic 2’s and gets after it on defense. Our team is playing good defense and I know Stack likes that. Tyrin has been excellent. Jordan Wright has done a lot of good things and Myles Stute can really stroke it from deep and get some critical rebounds. We need all hands on deck the rest of the way. Collin Smith, one of our talented freshmen, has shown signs of really helping us down the stretch. Would love to see Noah Shelby and Malik Dia have a shot to contribute. And when Lee Dort gets back, him too. Our freshmen class is superb. Also, freshman Paul Lewis is doing some good things backing up Ezra and Trey. We may have to stick with our older guys from here on out, that looks like what Stack is doing. But, you never know. We may need our freshmen to help us out. They’ll be critical pieces in the future, which looks very bright with these young guys in the fold.

So we’ve got a complete team right now. Just need to get to work tonight in Baton Rouge. We’ve got one shot tonight on the Bayou. We cannot blow this opportunity. We just need to play Vanderbilt basketball and I like out chances.

Another awesome thing has occurred in our program. Liam has earned first team Academic All District honors, as announced by College Sports Communications. After earning his undergraduate degree from Minnesota, Robbins is working towards his master’s degree in human development studies at VU. He is averaging 15.1 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3 blocks per game this season. Liam is doing it all. He’s a true Vanderbilt man.

Baseball

Baseball lost a tough one to Central Arkansas yesterday, but had a pretty solid weekend in Arlington Texas. We were defeated by Central Ark yesterday, 5-4. We were down 5-1 going into the bottom of the eighth, but second baseman Jonathan Vastine cranked a three run shot to deep right that cut the lead to 5-4. But we couldn’t score from there and dropped to 2-2 on the season after going 2-1 in the College Baseball Showdown at Globe Life Field in Arlington over the weekend. We lost to top 10 TCU, 11-4, last Friday. That was a tough one to swallow. Then we came back Saturday and defeated Top 10 OK. State, 11-9, thought our middle relief was questionable again as we had an 11-2 lead, and almost gave it up. Thanks to Thomas Schultz and Nick Maldonado, we didn’t. More on those two in a minute. On Sunday, we had a super game and won 12-2 over Texas as backup catcher Alan Epinal, a junior and an absolute stud at the plate, cranked a grand slam. Bryce Cunningham came in relief for Devin Futrell, who had a nice start. Bryce was lights out. He pitched 4 innings of shutout ball, allowing no hits, with a walk and 7 K’s. Our sophomore from Headland, Alabama looks like he’ll have a big year. He’s throwing mid 90’s and mixes it in with some good slower stuff. Really like what I’m seeing out of Bryce. Just for your information, Headland is 35 miles east of Enterprise where my wife grew up. It says on google that it’s a 45 minute drive. If my wife is driving, let’s say it’s a little more like 20. My wife’s not going to win the All State Safe Driver’s discount, but I trust her behind the wheel. She’s a good driver. She’s just fast at everything, running, biking, thinking. All except for eating. She takes her time eating. I don’t eat slow. I do that quickly and I need to work on it. As my Football Coach/U.S. History teacher said in high school when we’d ask him a history question, “I’ll get back to you on that.”

Anyway, our team has a shot to be very good. Jonathan V is off to an excellent start at the plate hitting .467 with 2 homers and 7 Ribeyes. He’s playing top notch second base as well. Our senior first baseman, Parker Noland, who you gotta love for sticking with the program for 4 years, is hitting .313. Noland, Maldonado and Shultz are three of our leaders. We’ve got some good representation in our senior and junior classes. Freshman stud RJ Austin is hitting .294. But as a team, we’re hitting .226. So that has to improve. Our starting pitching has been pretty good with Carter Holton, Hunter Owen and Futrell pitching pretty well last weekend. That’s interesting. Three left handed starters on the weekend. Could be a weapon if the guys can execute. Middle relief has been a problem, but Schultz and Maldonado have been assets at the end of games. Schultz has pitched 2 innings, giving up 2 hits, no earned runs with a walk and 4 K’s. He’s the setup man for Maldonado. Nick has been tremendous as our closer. He’s our closer again this season after starting last season, and I like him as our closer. He’s pitched 2 innings, given up 1 hit, 0 runs, with no walks and 3 K’s. He’s looking very sharp.

Patrick Reilly started yesterday, and he pitched 3 innings, giving up 2 runs on 2 hits with a walk and 4 K’s. Patrick brings it 95-97 a lot, so if he can locate and control his pitches, he will be an asset for us. Enrique Bradfield has gotten off to a slow start hating .067. So we need Enrique to step it up.

We’ve got UAB today at 4:30 PM at the Hawk with SEC Network+ broadcasting the game. Need to right the ship today. UAB will be hungry to knock us off just like Central Arkansas was, so we Have to be ready. UCLA comes into town this weekend for a 3 game set. UCLA is No. 17 in the country, so big test there. We are ranked No.10 by D-1 Baseball.com and No.5 by Baseball America.

Corbs was really high on this team before the season, not only for their ability on the diamond, but also their ability in the classroom . The team had a 3.3 grade point average in the fall, and Corbs has said some of his best teams were also prolific in the classroom. So that’s really good news. We have great kids who want to do well. That should translate to great baseball this season. That’s what Corbs and all of us expect out of our baseball teams every year.

****One last cool note involving baseball and soccer. Dansby Swanson’s wife, Mallory, has scored a goal in five straight matches for the U.S, Women’s National Soccer team as it prepares for the Women’s World Cup which will take place in Australia and New Zealand starting July 20th. Mallory is an absolute winner as is her husband, who signed a big contract with the Cubs after having a stellar tail end of his career with the Braves. Dans’s future is bright and so is Mallory’s!

Men’s Golf comes through once again this time in dramatic fashion

Talk about one shot. Our men’s golf team was trailing Georgia Tech by a shot in the final round of the Watersound Invitational at Panama City Beach, FL. with Cole Sherwood having two holes left. No. 11 Georgia Tech, which came from a huge deficit to us by shooting a 21 under round yesterday, had the lead and Sherwood was our last hope. They were at 37 under and we were at 36 under. Our junior proceeded to eagle No.17 from 25 feet and par No.18 from 25 feet to help us earn the victory by one shot at -38, one shot clear of Tech.

I was working on a book I’m writing because I needed to work on it and because I was nervous about our golf team, and just checked intermittently when it was coming down to the wire. I kept checking and we were a shot back at -36 for a long time on the backside. Then, magically, after No.17, we were ahead by a shot. And we closed it out with a superb 25 footer for par by Sherwood. He could very well be the best putter on the team and one of the best putters in the country. Our great sophomore and defending national champion Gordon Sargent shot six under 66 on the Par 72 Shark’s Tooth Golf Course that plays 7,246 yards. Gordon finished -13 for the tournament and tied for 2nd with Christo Lamprecht of Georgia Tech for the individual title, five back of individual winner Frederik Kjettrup of Florida State, who shot 18 under.

Gordon and Cole, who shot -12 and finished tied for 4th, were superb. Our great senior, Matthew Riedel, who keeps getting better and better, shot 9 under for the tournament and finished solo 8th. One of our stud freshmen, Wells Williams, who will need to play well going forward, shot 4 under and tied for 14th. And Jackson Van Paris, a sophomore, shot +2 and finished tied for 34th. Senior Reid Davenport, whom we will need as well going forward, shot 3 under and finished tied for 18th in the individual division. Reid played as an individual not as part of our starting lineup. We started five, and, as is usual for college golf, the top 4 scores are taken to determine a team’s score.

So we’re No.1 in the Golfstat rankings and No.1 in the Gulfweek Rankings and have won 3 tournaments in a row. We also won the East Lake Cup in late October of 2022 defeating Texas and Arizona State in a rematch of the Final Four teams from 2022. Texas defeated us last year in the semifinals of the NCAA Championships and won it all, so that was a bit of revenge, though we really want to make it count later on in the season. Pepperdine was the other Final Four team from 2022 that competed at East Lake in Atlanta. We have recently won the John Hayt Invitational in Ponte Vedra, Florida. We did that in early February. To say Scott Limbaugh is a good coach is like saying Michael Jordan was a good basketball player. Coach Limbaugh is the best in the game as was MJ in his day. We’ve got unfinished business in our men’s golf program. We want to get to the Final Four again and then win it all. But there are a lot of steps to take, There is a lot of work ahead of us. But, I’m very high on this golf team.

Our next tournament is the Cabo Collegiate in Cabo San Lucas, Mejico, March 5th-7th, a Sunday through Tuesday. There’s a really strong field with several top 25 teams playing, so we have our work cut out for us. A lot to get done in before we can lock in for May and June. But what an effort by our team. We’ve got a spectacular team and a spectacular coach.

It’s the MVP, Patrick Mahomes, and his Kansas City Chiefs squaring off with Jalen Hurts, who finished second in voting for the MVP, squaring off in Super Bowl 57 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

Both quarterbacks have put together superb seasons. Mahomes does this regularly. Hurts had a breakout season in his third year in the league. Mahomes will be somewhat hobbled by a high ankle sprain, but still found a way to overcome the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship game. Hurts had an injured right throwing shoulder, but is now 100 percent.

The Eagles defense have led the league in sacks with 77 through the playoffs. The Chiefs were a distant but highly effective second with 55. The offensive lines are both stout. Many call the Eagles offensive line the best in the National Football League. But the Chiefs aren’t too far behind.

Hurts has nice weapons around him in wide receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith along with running backs Miles Sanders and Kenneth Gainwell. The Chiefs are a little banged up on the perimeter, but tight end Travis Kelce is a dominant player. Marquez Valdez-Scantling is a weapon. Running back Isiah Pacheco is a hard-nosed north-south runner at running back.

So, this game is seemingly a toss up. Here’s a look at the details for Super Bowl LVII along with a prediction.

Postseason Predictions Record, 11-1 ATS, 8-4

Kansas City Chiefs (16-3) vs. Philadelphia Eagles (16-3)

State Farm Stadium, Glendale, Arizona, 9 miles northwest of Phoenix, 73,000

5:30 PM CT

FOX

Kevin Burkhardt, Greg Olsen, Erin Andrews, Tom Rinaldi, Rules, the great Mike Pereira

Laundry, Carl Cheffers. Cheffers second Super Bowl in 3 years. Highly respected.

Eagles by 1 1/2

Final Analysis and Decision

It’s hard to go against Patrick “Jazz Bath” Mahomes and his Chiefs. Mahomes is an unstoppable force, and the Chiefs also won the Super Bowl in 2020. How do you go against them?

But I will. The Philadelphia Eagles have been the best team in the NFL all season long and have the most complete team in the National Football League. Give me Jalen Hurts and the Eagles to win their second Super Bowl in franchise history. The first came against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in 2017, Super Bowl 52. I’m seeing a close, hotly contested game, but I like the Eagles to soar to the Lombardi Trophy.

Philadelphia Eagles 35, Kansas City Chiefs 31

MVP, Jalen Hurts

Tyrin Lawrence was just waiting in the right corner of the court as the seconds wound down in Memorial with Vanderbilt in a two point deficit. Somehow, point guard Ezra Manjon worked himself around the left baseline and fired a perfect pass across the court to Lawrence, who hauled in and put up a last second three pointer. It was a pure swish as time expired to lift the Dores to the 66-65 upset victory over No.6 Tennessee before 10,483 fans at Memorial Coliseum. It was an electric moment and one of the greatMemorial Magic moments you’ll ever see.

With the victory, the Dores moved to 12-12 on the season and 5-6 in the SEC with 7 games remaining starting with a game @ Florida Saturday at 2:30 PM CT on the SEC Network. Tennessee dropped to 19-5 and 8-3 in the SEC. This was the first Dores victory over the Vols in 12 games. The Dores had lost the previous 11. Also, another interesting stat, was that when we have played Tennessee and they are in the top 10 in the rankings, we are 5-1 against them. That’s pretty remarkable.

Just a spectacular effort by the guys. I really liked the lineup Stack had in for the last 4 minutes of the game with Erza, Tyrin, Jordan Wright, freshman Collin Smith and Liam Robbins. That was an excellent decision to have those five guys in there. The final play was drawn up to perfection. We had been having a tough time of late, but the hard fought victory over Ole Miss and this scintillating victory over Tennessee gives us a lot of momentum heading into the final seven games of the season. I’m not giving up on the NCAA Tournament. With a strong finish and a strong SEC Tourney showing, we’ve got a shot.

The last 15 seconds of the game were nothing short of surreal. Everything had to go our way for us to have a shot at winning. The Vols were up 65-63 and had the ball with 15 second left and we had only committed 2 team fouls. So they would throw it in and we’d foul them and we needed 4 more to get them to the line. With 14 seconds left Erza fouled to get us to 4 fouls. Then the Vols got a breakaway to the basket by Julian Phillips. Astoundingly, Phillips, who had a dunk or a lay-up at worst, thought maybe that Jordan Wright was going to block the shot and he dribbled out and was fouled. That got us to 5. Then another foul. Finally, with :08 left, Tyrin fouled Santiago Vescovi, for our seventh foul. It still looked pretty grim as Vescovi was a 79 percent free throw shooter stepping to the line. He had hit a game tying 3 with 1:37 left to know it up at 63. Then, Oliver Nkamhoua gave Tennessee the 65-63 lead with a mid-ranger in the lane. So, Vescovi was at the line with 8 seconds for a one and one and amazingly missed the front end. Tyrin got the rebound, passed it to Ezra who got it past half court and we called time out. Then the final play transpired with Erza skirting along the baseline and finding Tyrin for the buzzer beater. How tremendous was that.

Tyrin led us with 19 points. The great Liam Robbins added 14 points, 9 boards and 3 blocked shots. Liam, Tyrin, and Jordan Wright, who had 12 points, all in the second half, were not going to let us lose. Collin and Erza did their part as well. It was a terrific team victory and one that will be remembered for a long time and could catapult this hard working team into the NCAA Tournament discussion if we can keep winning. Proud of the guys and pumped for Florida and the rest of the season. James Franklin would always say after we won a game in the post game, “Who are we playing next week?” Corbs does that all the time, too. I know Stack, Clark and Scott Limbaugh think that way as well. So, it’s Florida that’s all that matters right now. Gotta stay laser focused and get ready for the Gators. Will be a challenging matchup, but one we Can win if we play like we did last night and even better.

Men’s Golf captures The Hayt

Our great sophomore Gordon Sargent captured the individual title at -15, and our second ranked (Golfstat) Vanderbilt Men’s Golf Team won the The Hayt tournament with a score of -28 to defeat North Florida, which finished at -12. Florida Gulf Coast finished third at +5, Alabama was 4th at +6, and Coastal Carolina finished 5th at +9.

Another terrific effort by this exciting team. Mathew Riedel finished -5 to tie for 4th. Sophomore Jackson Van Paris, a very promising player who was just as highly touted as the great Gordon coming out of high school, finished -4 and tied for 6th. Reid Davenport finished -3 and tied for 8th. Talented freshman Wells Williams finished at -2, and tied for 11th. And junior Cole Sherwood finished -1 and tied for 14th. So an incredible effort by the team in Ponte Vedra on the Sawgrass Country Club Course. If it sounds familiar, it is. TPC Sawgrass another course at the venue is where the Players Championship, the PGA Tour’s “fifth major” is played with the largest purse in golf at $25 million. So, a nice place to win for the guys.

Our returning individual national champion, Gordon, shot 70, 64,67. What an effort by the Man.

The team now has two weeks before resuming action at the Watersound Classic, Feb. 19-21, a Sunday through a Tuesday, in Panama City Beach, Florida. Awesome stuff from Coach Limbaugh and the guys. Our future looks exceptionally bright.

Baseball featured 10 times on National TV this season

Our Commodores, a consensus top 10 team ranked team with its highest ranking by Baseball America at No.6, though we want to be a lot higher than that at season’s end and playing in Omaha, will square off 10 times on TV this season.

We will play on ESPNU three times, ESPN2 twice, and the SEC Network five times. The slate begins with a March 16th game against defending national champion Ole Miss at the Hawk, a Friday Night game at 6 CT on ESPNU. The series finale will be Sunday, March 18th at 11 AM CT on the SEC Network.

Then we’re back in action April 21-23 @ Tennessee. Game 1, Friday, April 21, will start at 5 PM CT and be televised by the SEC Network. Saturday, April 22nd, we will play them at 11 AM CT on ESPN2. Sunday. April 23rd, we play those guys from the East at 12 PM CT on ESPN2.

We face Kentucky at home for a weekend series April 28-30. and Sunday, April 30, we will face the Wildcats at 2 PM CT on the SEC Network.

We then play @ Louisville, the annual “Battle for the Barrel” contest Tuesday, May 9 at 5 PM CT on ESPNU. Our final nationally televised game will be @ Florida, Friday, May 12th at 4:30 PM CT on the SEC Network in what could be an important close to end of the year series in Gainesville.

The SEC Tournament is Tuesday, May 23rd-Sunday, May 28th. Games will be televised on the SEC Network and either ESPN or ESPN 2 for the championship game. Hope our team is there on Sunday and in Omaha three weeks later.

This team’s got a shot with some stellar arms led by Nick Maldonado, and lefty Carter Holton and Devin Futrell. We’ve got excellent arms. Hoping we can hit for some power this season. Jack Bulger and Parker Noland will be our leaders in the power department. The amazing and spectacular Enrique Bradfield is back after hitting .318 last season and stealing 46 of 46 bases last season. Can’t wait to see what the Man does this season. We’ve got some bats for sure. The defense has a chance to be good. Will get more in depth coming up.

Our first games are in the Collegiate Baseball Showdown in Arlington Texas, at beautiful Globe Life Feld. We’ll face TCU Friday, Feb. 17th at 3 PM CT. We play Oklahoma State Saturday, Feb 17th, at 11 AM CT. And we play Texas Sunday, Feb 19th at 10:30 AM CT. We are No.9, OK State is No. 12, TCU is No.15 and Texas is No. 25 in the preseason D-1 Baseball Rankings. So, quite a challenging start for the team. Should be awesome.

All the games will be streamed on FloSports, a sports app you can get on your phone or your iPad, but don’t worry if you can’t get it. I’ll have full reports each day. Should be stellar with baseball and basketball in action that weekend. Our bball team will play Auburn that Saturday, Feb. 18th @Memorial at 7:30 PM CT on the SEC Network. Amazingly, I’m so caught up in what’s going on now, that that all happens next weekend. Should be an electric time for our basketball and baseball teams.

Football

Football did well with recruiting, we met some needs at running back, wide receiver and on the offensive lines at linebacker and in the secondary. We start spring practice at the end of the month. Like what AJ Swann can do as our quarterback, but they’ll battle it out in the spring and see what happens. Swann can be special. But Ken Seals is back. Ken has been impressive hanging in there without playing at all last season. So, he’ll be in the mix. Walter Taylor and Drew Dickey are a couple of other talents who will get a shot under center this spring. Will have more once the spring has arrived.

I liked our ‘23 class. It may not have been as highly ranked, but we got some super players. We pulled in three excellent wide receivers. Excited to see what Will Sheppard, Quincy Skinner, Jayden McGowan and Gamirion Carter can do on the perimeter for us in 2023. Patrick Smith, Chase Gillespie and the three talented freshmen will have to carry the load at running back. There is talent, so just need to develop. Both Smith and Gillespie shows signs of being excellent running backs. Ray Davis transferred to Kentucky and quarterback Mike Wright transferred to Mississippi State. Our O line is big, strong and physical, we have some experience returning, and tight end needs to step up. But we’ve got players at those positions who can get the job done well. Defense could be even better next season. Expecting that to be the case.

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Will check back in again soon. Thanks a lot for reading.

This is the fifth oldest tournament on the PGA Tour, and in conjunction with Super Bowl LVII, makes Phoenixthe epicenter for the sports world this weekend. TPC Scottsdale gets 200,000 fans on Saturday, 17,000 plus of them at hole 16, the 146 yard par 3 Stadium Hole, part of the Stadium Course. The hole gets more raucous than an Iron Bowl Saturday in late November. George Savaricus of Golf Channel described it as playing anywhere from a gap wedge at 120 yards to a 7 or 8 iron at 165-170 yards when the pin is playing back left. Everybody who knows about golf recognizes this golfing spectacle. It’ll be rockin’ all weekend, Friday-Sunday. Several of the players have said that the most pressure is on Friday when you are trying to make the cut. Sunday pressure is intense as well and 17 and 18 offer no bargain either. More on those two holes and another in a moment.

There have been 11 aces on 16. There were two last year. Sam Ryder and Carlos Ortiz were the protagonists last season. Tiger Woods aced the hole in 1997. Last year, there were beer cans and beer bottles flying, which is over the top. I like the excitement and electricity of this hole, but it can get out of control at times. Also, it’s a little overhyped. No.17 is a 332 yard par 4 that features water on the left that will swallow up a slight pull, and bunkers in the center and on the right. It’s a classic risk/reward hole. Sahith Theegala had the lead last year on Sunday going into 17 and slightly pulled his drive into the water allowing Scottie Scheffler and Patrick Cantlay to tie for the lead after 72 holes and go into a playoff, which the great Scheffler won on the third playoff hole, his first of 4 victories in 6 events including the 86th Masters title.

No. 11 is the toughest hole on the course. It’s a par 4 playing 472 yards featuring a lake that runs down the entire left side of the hole. Players who hit it right can end up in a column of trees. There are two bunkers on the left that can bail a player out from going into the water on his second shot.

No. 18 is a terrific closing hole. It’s a par 4, 442 yards. The drive is over a lake that also runs down the entire left side of the hole. There are bunkers on the left that are extremely challenging and the bail out on the right has three bunkers and thick rough. The driver is critical on this hole. Three bunkers surround the green which slopes from right to left. Should be electric on Sunday with the Super Bowl on deck.

The Waste Management is one of the 17 “designated” events that all the top players in the game want to compete in. The purse is $20 million with first place paying $3.6 million. I listed the 16 other elevated events on last Thursday’s Pebble Beach column if you’d like to check that out. Next week at the Genesis Open in Pacific Palisades, CA. is another designated $20 million event. Second place isn’t too bad either at the WM. It pays $2,180,000 million. Third place is $1.38 million. So, the event has 18 of the top 20 players in the official golf world rankings. No.1 Rory is in Phoenix. No.2 Scheffler. No.3 Jon Rahm, a former Arizona State player, are also in the field. No.5 Patrick Cantlay. No.6 Xander Schaffele. No.7 Collin Morikawa. No.9 Justin Thomas, and No.10 Matt Fitzpatrick are competing. The only two players of the top 20 not at the WM are No.4 Cam Smith, who is a LIV player and unable to compete on the PGA Tour, and No.8 Will Zalatoris, who is sitting this one out. My question to him is, Why?

In their last 7 worldwide starts, Rory has won 3 times and Rahm has won 4 times. On the PGA Tour, Rory won the CJ Cup in South Carolina in October of 2022, and Rahm won the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii in January and the American Express in California, also in January.

Forty two year old Justin Rose shot 66 on Sunday/Monday at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am to win at that majestic venue with a Monday finish due to inclement weather on Sunday. That was Rose’s 11th PGA Tour victory and first since the 2019 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. Rose played a flawless final round 66 after a bogey on Number 1 on Pebble Beach. His second shot from 195 yards out of the sand on the Par 5, 6th, which he put 6 feet from the cup and sank the eagle putt, was the shot of the tournament. His putting was masterful as well. Rose was the first European to ever win at the AT&T Pebble Beach in its 82nd edition. Rose is also the third player to ever win on 6 continents along with Gary Player and Peter Graham. He’s won in North America, South America, at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Africa, Asia, Australia and Europe. Antartica is a bit chilly for golf. So, terrific performance by one of the great guys in the game.

With the Super Bowl hosting media day on Monday Night, Justin Thomas approached Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, a former Crimson Tide and Oklahoma quarterback, who has become a stellar player in the National Football League with his team on the brink of a Lombardi Trophy. They’ll have to defeat Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs to do it, which is a tall order. But the Eagles are stacked with talent.

Justin asked the great Jalen quickly if he’s a Crimson Tider or a Boomer Sooner. Jalen smiled and just walked away with no comment while Justin was saying, “Come on, Roll Tide.” Pretty funny.

Odds for Waste Management

Rory, 8/1

Rahm, 8.5/1

Xander Schauffele, 14/1

Scheffler, 15/1

Tony Finau, 18/1

Collin Morikawa, 18/1

Patrick Cantlay, 21/1

Justin Thomas, 21/1

Max Homa, 21/1

Sungjae Im, 27/1

Viktor Holland, 27/1

Hideki Matsuyama, 28/1

Tom Kim, 28/1

Cameron Young, 29/1

Jordan Spieth, 31/1

Matt Fitzpatrick, 37/1

Sam Burns, 42/1

Sahith Theegala, 45/1

Tyrrell Hatton, 50/1

Shane Lowry, 50/1

Tommy Fleetwood, 55/1

Rickie Fowler, 60/1

Billy Horschel, 60/1

Taylor Montgomery, 60/1

Keegan Bradley, 60/1

Good to see the Europeans on the PGA Tour. Several have defected to LIV.

Weather, great

Thursday, 73, sunny, Wind NE 12 MPH.

Friday, 76, Sunny, wind E 15 MPH

Saturday, 77, Partly sunny, Wind SSE 10 MPH

Sunday, 68, partly sunny, wind SSE 11 MPH.

Wind might be a little tricky on some holes, so that’ll be something to look for.

TV

Thursday-Friday, 2:30-6:30 PM CT, Golf Channel.

Saturday, 12-2 PM CT, GC, 2-5:30 PM CT, CBS

Sunday, 12-2 PM CT, GC, 2-5 PM CT, CBS.

Then it’s the 57th edition of the Super Bowl kicking off at approximately 5;30 PM CT on FOX. The Super Bowl is in Glendale, Arizona, 9 miles northwest of Phoenix. So Phoenix will be the the center of the sports world on Sunday.

Key tee times on Thursday

8:48 AM CT-Rory, Hideki, Morikawa

8:59 AM CT-Finau, Schauffele, Spieth

9:10 AM CT- Cantlay, Fitzpatrick, Sam Burns

1:33 PM CT-Max Homa, Rahm, Keegan Bradley

1:44 PM-Justin, Joel Dahmen, Theegala

1:55 PM CT-Tom Kim, Scheffler, Viktor Hovland

Winner

I’m going to go with the 26 year old from Ridgewood, New Jersey by way of the University of Texas. He’s just a consistently superb player. His form is pretty solid after a T-11th finish at the American Express in his last start. Give me the defending champion go back to back.

Scottie Scheffler

Sleeper

I’ll take the 25 year old from Orange, California, by way of Pepperdine University, to have a good shot at winning his first PGA Tour event. He came so close last year finishing tied for third with Brooks Koepka, now on the LIV Tour, and Schauffele. Going with,

Sahith Theegala

Saturday, Super Bowl 57, Preview/Prediciton

The pristine Monterrey Peninsula hosts the 82nd playing of the Pebble Beach Pro-Am at 3 selected courses. Pebble Beach Golf Links, 6,972 yards, Par 72, Spyglass Hill, 7,041 yards, Par 72, and Monterrey Peninsula Country Club, 6,957 yards, Par 71.

Tom Hoge is the defending champion as he outlasted Jordan Spieth, who had a death wish on Number 8 on Saturday last year as he hit a seven iron on the par 4 to the green while just above the cliff with the Pacific Ocean 68 feet below. Hoge shot a 68 on Sunday birdieing 16 and 17 with Spieth bogeying 17 and shooting a 69, a pretty good score as well. Hoge finished -19 and Spieth finished -17.

The Purse for Pebble Beach is $9,000,000 with the winner’s share $1,620,000. Hoge won 1,566,000 last year. Pebble is not one of the 17 designated tournament this year, so there are not as many elite names in the field. But it’s history and legacy has attracted some excellent players.

There are 17 designated tournaments this year with purses ranging from $15 to $25 million. The PGA decided they had to step up their purses to keep up with their rival, LIV Golf. The top players in the world, who are not on the LIV Tour, they are not allowed to play on the PGA Tour, are requited to play in the Designated tournaments. Those 17 tournaments with the purses are:

1. Sentry Tournament of Champions, Jan. 5-8, $15 M, Jon Rahm, $2,700,000 for first

2. Waste Management Phoenix Open, Feb. 9-12, $20 M, $3.6 M first

3. The Genesis Invitational, Feb 16-19, $20 M, $3.6 M

4. Arnold Palmer Invitational, March 2-5, $20 M, $3.6 M

5. The Players Championship, March 9-12, $25 M, $4.5 M

6. WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, March 23-25, $20M, $3.6 M

7. RBC Heritage, April 13-16, $20 M, $3.6 M

8. The Memorial Tournament, June 1-4 $20 M, $3.6 M

9. Wells Fargo Inivitational, May 4-7, 20M, $3.6 M

10. Travelers Championship, June 22-25, $20 M, $3.6 M

11. Fed Ex St. Jude Championship, Aug. 10-13, $20M, $3.6 M

12. BMW Championship, Aug. 17-20, $20 M, $3.6 M

13. The Masters, April 6-9, $15 M, $2.7 M

14. PGA Championship, May 19-22, $15 M, $2.7 M

15. U.S. Open, June 15-18, $15 M, $2.7 M

16. Open Championship, July 20-23, $15 M, 2.7 M

17. The Tour Championship, Aug. 24-27, $70 M, 17 M

    Wow, that’s mind blowing. You win one of these and you take care of your finances, you’re in good shape for life. Who would want to play on any other tour? The PGA Tour is keeping the key guys.

I would argue that the fields in the PGA are still much stronger than they are on the LIV Tour. Rory, Rahm, as Tripp Isenhour said on Golf Channel, he bets captain Luke Donald is ecstatic that those two are going to be on his Ryder Cup team in Rome, September 29-Oct.1, on NBC at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Guidonia, Montecelio, just outside of Rome. Zach Johnson will be the U.S. Captain. There are some stellar U.S, players as well who will be colliding with that European Team. Also on the PGA Tour, you have Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Max Homa, Tony Finau, Viktor Hovland, Matt Fitzpatrick, Scottie Scheffler, how could I leave him out?Will Zalatoris. These are the who’s who of younger, stellar players who headline the Tour. On the LIV Tour, you have Dustin, who hadn’t done much in a while, won the 2020 Masters on a course with no fans. He usually chokes in the clutch. Brooks Koepka, who was sliding when he left the tour. Bryson DeChambeau, whose awkward bulkiness cost him his short game and he was sliding. Phil Mickelson. He wants to still be relevant, but he really isn’t. Cameron Smith is stellar, but why do it Cam? Matthew Wolff,. Was a head case and sliding badly. Sergio? Poulter? Westwood? Give me a break.

So the PGA roster is far superior. That’s poetic justice. I might watch the LIV Tour every once in a while if I get bored. But not much at all. Fifty four holes of no cut golf doesn’t cut it for me.

Last week’s winner at Torrey Pines was Max Homa, who shot a final round 66 and came back from a 5 shot deficit to capture the championship at the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego. Homa is an interesting, cool guy. A Cal-Berkeley graduate, 32 years old from Burbank, California. Kind of a self deprecating, but confident golfer. He’s worked with sports psychologist Julie Elion, which has really helped him. He’s worked on the range like a Trojan, and has been super successful on tour. In 9 tournaments he’s played in where he’s in the top 5 going into the final round since 2019, he’s won 6 times. At the 2019 Wells Fargo, he was tied for first entering Sunday, and won it. At the 2021 American Express, he was T-2 and won it. At the 2021 Fortinet Championship in Napa, CA. he was T-3 and won. At the 2022 Wells Fargo, he was second, and won. At the 2022 Fortinet, he was T-2, and won. And at the Farmers last week, he’s was tied for 4th and won. That’s remarkable.

Homa is a closer to the “Max.” I expect major things from him going forward. Isenhour predicted an Oak Hill (Rochester, NY) victory at the PGA Championship in May. Maybe a U.S. at Los Angeles Country Club, the North Course, in June, his home turf. The guy is an absolute stud.

On the DP World Tour, Rory won the Hero Dubai Desert Classic shooting a 19 under score and defeating Patrick Reed, an LIV player and a very compelling and juicy matchup story. Rory won by a shot with a 15 foot birdie putt on the Par 5, 18th. Last week on the practice range, Reed, who had subpoenaed Rory on Christmas Eve at Rory’s home with his family in attendance in his suit against the PGA Tour, came up to Rory and attempted to shake his hand. Rory ignored him, and Reed walked away fuming and tossed a tee in Rory’s direction. TeeGate resulted from that. Then, Tree Gate emerged in the third round on Sunday. Reed hit his drive on the Par 4, 17th into a set of three palm trees. It clearly looked like his ball went into the first of the three trees. Using binoculars and with an official with him, Reed said he was “100 percent” sure his Titleist Pro V one ball with an arrow and marks on it was lodged in the third tree. The official, using the binoculars, concurred. He took an unplayable lie and made bogey, which kept him alive for the Monday final round finish. But it looked like there was no chance his ball made it to the third tree. Brandel Chamblee, the great Golf Channel analyst, who was sued by Reed as well for defamation but won the case, clearly questioned it. And the tape shows it landing in the first tree and staying there. The Patrick Reed sage never ends does it. Just glad he’s off the PGA Tour, though the American team might miss him on the Ryder Cup, but I doubt it. He has made some enemies. He’s an elite player on the LIV Tour. He’ll do well there, though the tour is a joke. The LIV players will play at three of the four majors all except the PGA Championship. So the 32 year old Reed, who has won nine times on the PGA Tour and won the 2018 Masters, by defeating none other than Rory on Sunday, will compete. He’s a a terrific player, but controversy follows him everywhere it seems.

Key Holes on Pebble

The 7th, par 3, 112 yards. Into the wind could be a 4 or 3 iron. Calm conditions, a sand wedge or lob wedge, 56-58 degrees.

The 8th, Par 4, 424 yards. One of the best holes in the game of golf. Second shot is over the Pacific Ocean. Jack Nicklaus called it “the greatest second shot in golf.”

No.9, Par 4, 477 yards. Considered the toughest hole on the course. The ocean on the right and rough is on the left. A player has to contend with a deep bunker on the left front side of the green. Challenging. Par is a good score.

No. 10, Par 4, 454. The last in the stretch of holes along the Carmel Bay, or the Pacific. It’s a long par 4 that features a challenging tee shot that if the ball lands center right, it will roll into the rough on the right hand side. If the ball is center left, it should be OK. But too far left and the player is in the rough or the sand. There are bunkers left and long by the green and enough club is needed to clear the inlet on the right. The green slopes left to right.

No. 17, Par 3, 179 yards, Wind is a clear factor on this hole, as the player is usually playing right into it. You can win it here, like Tom Watson did in 1982, when he told his caddie, the late Bruce Edwards, who passed away from ALS in 2004, “I’m not going to get it close, I’m going to make it.” He proceeded to chip it in and had one of the great reactions in golf history, running to his right holding his putter in the air. It’s said that he said to Jack Nicklaus going into the 18th, “Put that in your pipe and smoke it.” That’s not confirmed, but they were ferocious competitors, yet became great friends as well. He outlasted the great Jack by a shot to win the Open, one of his 8 major championships. Jack won 18, of course.

On the other side of that, and this is just one example, Spieth bogeyed 17 in 2022 and Tom Huge birdied it to win the title.

No.18, 530 yards, Par 5. An awesome finishing hole with the ocean on the left for over-cooked drives, a couple of trees in the middle, and rough on the right. More dramatics can be found on this finishing hole. I remember Graeme McDowell winning the U.S. Open in 2010 on Father’s Day by birdieing 18. He was quite the player from Northern Ireland and UAB. He’s now on the LIV Tour. There are some likable guys on the LIV. I rode with Greame in a cart one time at Old Overton when he played at UAB and I was writing a story on him for the Birmingham Post-Herald. He was a heckuva great guy, and just hit it so purely and was a terrific putter. He likes to have a good time as well, a few cold ones or maybe 3, 4 or 5.

Odds

Jordan Spieth, 9/1

Matt Fitzpatrick, 10/1

Viktor Hovland, 10/1

Maverick McNealy, 16/1

Tom Hoge, 17/1

Seamus Power, 19/1

Justin Rose, 24/1

Andrew Putnam, 31/1

Matt Kuchar, 37/1

Kevin Kisner, 65/1

Brendon Todd, 70/1

Weather

Today, Cloudy, high 60, wind SSE 11 MPH

Friday, 57, light rain early, then cloudy, wind SE 9 MPH

Saturday, 61, Cloudy early, then chance of showers, Wind S 15 MPH. 40% chance of rain.

Sunday, Steady rain predicted, but not guaranteed. High 54, WNW 15 MPH. Rain chances, 66%.

The greens, which are Poa Annua, will be stimping at around 12, and the rough at its highest will be at 2 inches, so the amateurs can handle it.

TV

Today-Friday, 2-5 PM CT, Golf Channel

Saturday, 12-2 PM CT, GC, 2-6 PM CT, CBS

Sunday, 12-2 PM CT, GC, 2-5:30 PM CT, CBS.

Winner

I was thinking hard about going with the 33 year old defending champion from Statesville, North Carolina by way of TCU, Tom Huge. However, I’m going to select the 25 year old from Oslo Norway by way of Oklahoma State, who won the 2018 U.S, Amateur at Pebble Beach. Please give me:

Viktor Hovland

Sleeper

I’m taking the 27 year old from Mission Viejo, Cali, by way of the University of Texas. He’s 90/1, but he finished solo 3rd here last year.

Beau Hossler

Elite Music Vid

The great Luke Combs sings this classic 2019 song about a son and his father, Even Though I’m Leaving.