“Unbelievable,” Vanderbilt head coach Scott Limbaugh said Thursday morning as he answered his phone.
Sitting at his side was his dog, Ace, a goldendoodle which Limbaugh got back in October 2022 as a promise to his team.
When Limbaugh was recruiting standout Gordon Sargent, part of Limbaugh’s pitch was that the dog-loving Sargent would have a companion around the Commodores’ golf house at Vanderbilt Legends Club in Franklin, Tennessee. Sargent committed, but Limbaugh?
“I kind of forgot I said that,” Limbaugh recalled, “and it turns out, he didn’t forget.”
So, the fall of Sargent’s sophomore year, Limbaugh and his players were driving to the SEC Fall Preview at Old Overton in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, a course with a tough group of par-3s. Senior William Moll took the opportunity for a wager: If one of Vandy’s players made a hole-in-one, Limbaugh would have to cave and get a dog. Limbaugh declined, so Moll offered this: If Vandy beat Alabama in football that night as massive underdogs, they’d get a dog. Limbaugh not only shook on it, but he said, “If we beat Alabama, we’ll stop on the way home and get one.”
Vandy got crushed, 55-3, but Moll remained relentless. So, Limbaugh, having never in some two decades of coaching had a player make an ace, finally agreed to the first bet. The next day, Moll holed a 6-iron at the 211-yard 12th hole.
“The most dead-center hole-in-one that you’ve ever seen in your life,” Limbaugh said. “He’s jumping up and down, yelling at me, ‘You’ve gotta get a dog! You’ve gotta get a dog!
“And a couple weeks later, we got Ace.”
Fast forward to this week, and Limbaugh’s phone was blowing up with texts, everyone wondering the same thing: How many more dogs were on the way?
Three different Vandy players recorded hole-in-ones at the Watersound Invitational at the aptly named The Third Golf Course in Panama City Beach, Florida. Not only did the aces come in different rounds, but it pushed the Commodores’ season total to five, Limbaugh’s first holes-in-one since Moll’s ace over three years ago.
In the first round, John Broderick hooped an 8-iron from 161 yards at the par-3 14th hole, his 16th of the round. Carlos Astiazaran followed the next round, holing out with a 50-degree wedge from 135 yards at the par-3 sixth, his third hole of the round. Finally, Chase Nevins, playing as an individual, aced the par-3 third, his fourth hole of the day, finding a tough back hole location with 4-iron from 214 yards out and into a 15 mph wind.
Those aces followed Wells Williams and Michael Riebe, who made holes-in-one at last fall’s Hogan Collegiate at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. Williams’ ace came at No. 13 while Riebe recorded his at No. 8.
The club’s pro, Noah Andrews, who used to be at Golf Club of Tennessee, took down the information and was sending Limbaugh flags to commemorate the rare sleeve of aces.
“We kind of blew the lead, so there wasn’t a ton celebrating,” said Limbaugh, whose team lost by a shot to Arkansas, though Riebe shared medalist honors (fittingly, with two others). “But we’re going to do something pretty cool in our new library area back at the golf house. I think it’s really cool.”
Limbaugh didn’t have exact plans yet, but one thing was for sure: Ace wasn’t getting any brothers or sisters.