ATLANTA – What’s wrong with Texas?
It’s a question that has been widely asked recently as the preseason-No. 1 Longhorns have struggled this fall, posting disappointing ninth-place showings at Olympia Fields and Isleworth and entering this week’s East Lake Cup ranked 26th in the country.
“I know that we have to get a lot better,” Texas coach John Fields said last week, hoping to light a fire under his team.
It seems Fields’ squad has finally answered the bell.
The Longhorns shot 10-under 278 Monday at the East Lake Cup to earn the No. 1 seed for match play, which begins Tuesday. Texas placed four individuals inside the top 4, led by freshman Travis Vick and sophomore Pierceson Coody, who missed the team’s last event with a shoulder strain.
Coody was a game-time decision for Monday’s stroke-play round, not hitting driver in Sunday’s am-am competition. Sophomore Christoffer Bring was flown in Sunday night in case Coody couldn’t go. But Coody experienced little discomfort during Monday’s warmup and followed with a 3-under 69.
Coody’s twin brother, Parker, added 70, as did sophomore Cole Hammer.
“Any kind of positive like this, shooting 10 under at East Lake on any kind of day, any time, any place … for our guys this is one of those ‘I can be’ moments,” Fields said. “We have a vision of what this team can do, but today was a little bit of truth in the belief that we have.”
Texas will play Vanderbilt in the semifinals, while Oklahoma State and Wake Forest will compete in the other men’s semifinal. On the women’s side, Duke shot 2 under to earn the top seed. The Blue Devils will play Auburn on Tuesday while Wake Forest will play Arizona.
Here are the complete matchups and tee times:
Duke (1) vs. Auburn (4)
- Miranda Wang vs. Megan Schofill, 11:05 a.m. ET
- Erica Shepherd vs. Kaleigh Telfer, 11:25 a.m.
- Gina Kim vs. Brooke Sansom, 11:45 a.m.
- Jaravee Boonchant vs. Julie McCarthy, 12:05 p.m.
- Ana Belac vs. Mychael O’Berry, 12:25 p.m.
Arizona (2) vs. Wake Forest (3)
- Sandra Nordaas vs. Emilia Migliaccio, 12:45 p.m.
- Therese Warner vs. Swing Liu, 1:05 p.m.
- Gile Bite Starkute vs. Vanessa Knecht, 1:25 p.m.
- Vivian Hou vs. Lauren Walsh, 1:45 p.m.
- Ya Chun Chang vs. Rachel Kuehn, 2:05 p.m.
Texas (1) vs. Vanderbilt (4)
- Spencer Soosman vs. William Moll, 11:15 a.m.
- Travis Vick vs. John Augenstein, 11:35 a.m.
- Parker Coody vs. Matt Riedel, 11:55 a.m.
- Pierceson Coody vs. Harrison Ott, 12:15 p.m.
- Cole Hammer vs. Reid Davenport, 12:35 p.m.
Wake Forest (2) vs. Oklahoma State (3)
- Marco Steyn vs. Hazen Newman, 12:55 p.m.
- Mark Power vs. Austin Eckroat, 1:15 p.m.
- Alex Fitzpatrick vs. Brian Stark, 1:35 p.m.
- Eugenio Chacarra vs. Rayhan Thomas, 1:55 p.m.
- Eric Bae vs. Aman Gupta, 2:15 p.m.