No. 12 Texas A&M Men’s Golf was competing in the Bandon Dunes Championship in Oregon this week. As a team, the Aggies played their first two rounds near par, however the third day of competition was not as kind to the team, as they finished 6 shots over par. Texas A&M ended their week in fifth place with a total score of 5-over par. No. 10 Oregon shot an impressive 12-under par in the final round to win the tournament by twenty-one strokes.
“We’re pretty disappointed in today’s performance,” head coach J.T. Higgins told 12thman.com. “We got off to a terrible start and were never able to get it back. We putted the worst we have all year, but I’m proud of the guys for settling down after the rough start and not letting it get as bad as it could have been.”
The team was led by junior Cameron Champ who came in fifth individually in a field of ninety players, with a total score of 6-under par. Champ was tied for second in par 4 scoring and tied for sixth in par 5 scoring, including being one of only five players to record multiple eagles this week. The junior was consistent in his scoring, carding under par rounds all three days of competition.
Arguably one of the hottest collegiate players in the country right now, sophomore Chandler Phillips, ended in a tie for 9th with a total score of 4-under par, his seventh top-10 finish of the season. Phillips was near the top in both par 3 and par 5 scoring for the tournament, and holed twelve birdies across his three rounds.
Junior Kavan Eubank had a strong start to his tournament with a 3-under par round on day one, however he stumbled in his final round carding a 5-over par 77, landing in a tie for 20th place. The junior was top-three in par 5 scoring with two eagles for the week.
Also competing for Texas A&M this week was freshman Dan Erickson and sophomore Max Miller who tied for 73rd and 82nd respectively.
“I think we learned a lot and got experience of playing in some tough conditions and dealing with adversity,” Higgins said to 12thman.com, “We’ll use that and build on it going forward.”
The Aggies have not finished outside of the top five in any tournament this season, and will look to continue their strong play in Palm City, Florida as they will tee it up at the Valspar Collegiate Invitational on March 19.