Over the last three days, the A&M men’s tennis team competed against other SEC teams in the Jerry Pate National Invitational in Birmingham, Ala.
By the end of the Invitational, the team finished with a total final score of 1-over 841, placing them eighth overall. The event winners were Auburn, Georgia and Vanderbilt, who had a three-way tie for first place hitting at 19-under 821.
Round 1 started the Aggies off slowly. They sat in 12th by the end of Sunday hitting 2-over 282. Two Aggies, Sam Bennett and Brandon Smith, did place in the top 20, each tied for 18th (1-under 69 each), while teammate Dan Erickson hit on par. A&M was one of only four teams over par
Monday’s Round 2 showed improvement for the team as a whole. The Aggies hit on par, 280. This helped them leapfrog hosts Alabama as well as Missouri to improve to 10th place out of 14. Sam Bennett hit 1-under 69 for the second day in a row, good enough for a tie at 18th. Brandon Smith also sat at 20th at the end of the day.
The third day closed, rounding out the tournament. The Aggies improved once more, this time hitting 279 (-1), moving from 10th to eighth. They surpassed Mississippi State and Florida. Sam Bennett hit under par for the third day in a row, improving by shooting 2-under 68 on Tuesday. Bennett (69-69-68-206) finished the day sitting tied for 12th with teammate Brandon Smith (69-70-70-209), who was not far behind tied for 19th.
Outside the top-20 finishers, the Aggies had two other golfers place top 50. Dan Erickson (70-71-69-210) finished on par tied for 29th and William Paysse (75-70-72-217) finished 7-over tied for 50th. As well, Daniel Rodrigues (74-72-72-218), who was 8-over par, was in 54th.
This was the last team tournament for the fall season for the men’s golf team. Finishing the year with their worst placing in any of their three invitationals. Due to SEC guidelines related to COVID-19, the team is only allowed three team events in the fall season, marking this the end of their year.