The Texas A&M men’s golf team traveled to the par 70, 6,885-yard Shady Oaks Country Club in Fort Worth for the Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational on Oct. 2-3.
The Aggies finished sixth last week at SEC Match Play after facing some of the top men’s golf teams in the country. The Ben Hogan Invite consisted of 15 teams, 14 of which were ranked in the top 25. The Maroon and White were one of three SEC schools along with Vanderbilt and Georgia.
The A&M lineup led by Brian Kortan included sophomore Jaime Montojo, junior Phichaksn Maichon, senior Daniel Rodrigues, freshman Aaron Pounds and junior Michael Heidelbaugh.
The tournament consisted of 36 holes on Monday followed by 18 final holes on Tuesday. The Aggies fell behind and finished tied for 11th with Georgia Tech on Day 1.
“Just playing with confidence,” Kortan said to 12thMan.com. “These guys work their tails off. I couldn’t ask for these guys to work any harder. They put in the time and they put in the effort. It’s just about playing with that confidence that they earned through their practice.”
It was a day to remember for No. 10 Oklahoma as they led the leaderboard and finished in a five-stroke lead to Arizona State with Vanderbilt trailing behind.
The Sun Devils spent Round 1 and 2 in a constant fight with the Sooners for first place. Although the maroon and gold went into Day 2 in second place, they did contain three players in the top-10 on the individual leaderboard that included graduate Gabe Salvanera, graduate Luke Potter and graduate Ryggs Johnston.
Sooner Junior Drew Goodman tied the Shady Oaks Country Club course record during Round 2.
“Drew hit it great all day and then capitalized when he needed to with his putting,” Oklahoma coach Ryan Hybl said to soonersports.com.
Arizona State stole the lead early into Round 3 on Tuesday. Oklahoma struggled and fell down the team leaderboard behind their Day 1 components. The Sooners finished in fifth place at 4-under.
The Maroon and White finished the tournament 13-over and tied for ninth with the Longhorns.
The Tar Heels climbed the leaderboard after a 5-under finish on Monday and were tied with the Sun Devils for the majority of Day 2. North Carolina caught up to Arizona and eventually took the lead in the back nine to finish the tournament in second place at 15-under. The Sun Devils finished third at 13-under.
Vanderbilt was steady and bounced between third and fourth place for most of Round 3 until senior Cole Sherwood birdied holes 14 and 15 and junior Gordon Sargent birdied 13 and 14 and made a huge turnaround for the Commodores.
Sherwood sank a 10-foot putt for birdie on the 18th hole which placed him tied for first at 7-under for the tournament along with Georgia Tech’s senior Christo Lamprecht on the individual leaderboard.
This secured the team victory for Vanderbilt with a score of 16-under.
Sherwood and Lamprecht went into a playoff for the individual title where Sherwood came out victorious with a birdie and walked away with the individual title win.
The Maroon and White tee off next at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate on Oct. 13-15 in Alpharetta, Georgia.