The 18th annual Linger Longer InvitationalLinger Longer Invitational (LLI), which annually boasts one of the country’s strongest collegiate golf tournament fields, tees off next week featuring Vanderbilt University, the nation’s No. 1-ranked team as well as seven other schools in the Top 50.
Played on Reynolds Lake OconeeReynolds Lake Oconee’s Great Waters course, the 2023 LLI is scheduled for Saturday, March 18 through Tuesday, March 21, and will again be co-hosted by participating schools, Mercer University and Kennesaw State University.
Vanderbilt, No. 1 in the latest Golfweek rankings (March 6), is led by sophomore Gordon Sargent, who earlier this year accepted a special invitation to compete in next month’s Masters Tournament. Sargent, the country’s top-ranked player (Golfweek), will be joined at the ’23 LLI by University of Arkansas senior Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira from Argentina, who also has been invited to participate in this year’s Masters.
In addition to Vanderbilt and Arkansas (No. 45), other ranked teams appearing at this year’s LLI are Georgia Tech (6), Virginia (16), Alabama (17) Georgia (25), UNC-Greensboro (47), and Clemson (48). Georgia will look to defend its title, having held off Vanderbilt by just four strokes a year ago.
In all, 16 teams will compete for the 2023 title in a 54-hole stroke-play tournament on the Jack Nicklaus-designed Great WatersGreat Waters layout, which features no fewer than 10 holes on Lake Oconee and is ranked by Golf Digest as one of America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses. The individual competition will be headlined by Sargent, who finished fourth here last year, his teammate Cole Sherwood, as well as Ben James (Virginia), Ross Steelman and Christo Lamprecht (both Georgia Tech). All five players are ranked in the top 10 of Golfweek’s latest individual rankings.
Linger Longer Invitational alumni include PGA Tour players with combined earnings of over $300 million and more than 60 Tour victories. Former LLI participants include Justin Thomas (Alabama); Scottie Scheffler and Beau Hossler (both Texas); Rickie Fowler (Oklahoma State); and Russell Henley, Harris English, Brian Harman, Keith Mitchell, and Chris Kirk (all Georgia). Scheffler and Kirk already have captured PGA Tour events in 2023.
For additional information on the Linger Longer Invitational or to check scores during the event, visit www.reynoldslakeoconee.com/the-linger-longer-invitationalwww.reynoldslakeoconee.com/the-linger-longer-invitational.
