Seniors Amber Park and Dan Erickson swung their way onto the leaderboard in the Blessings Golf Invitational.
The Texas A&M men’s and women’s golf teams competed in the Blessings Golf Invitational this past week in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The men’s team had a second place finish with Erickson and the women finished tied for 11th with Tennessee, with Park leading the way for A&M with a tied 28th place finish.
As a team, the men finished 10-over 298 and were tied with Vanderbilt for fifth at 18-over par.
A&M men’s coach Brian Kortan said Blessings was an amazing start to the season for the team.
“To begin the season and be on the GOLF Channel was just fantastic,” Kortan told 12thman.com. “Blessings is a fantastic course, and they did a great job with it. Mr. Tyson, along with the University of Arkansas, stepping up and hosting all of the SEC teams just shows the quality of people and the quality of university leadership we have in the SEC.”
Erickson was the only player in the field to shoot under par during all three rounds as he tied for second. Redshirt senior Brandon Smith finished tied for 42nd and was even par.
Kortan said Erickson had a fantastic start to his senior season.
“I thought Dan was really good,” Kortan said. “He was really patient, and worked hard to execute his game plan and really stuck to it. To get a second place finish in that kind of field to start his final year of college is fantastic.”
The maroon and white women finished ahead of Mississippi State and Missouri. They were tied with Tennessee for 11th (+60).
A&M women’s coach Andrea Gaston said the team is focused on getting ready for its next tournament.
“As a team, we learned a lot this week and now we get to go home, work on our games and get ready for the next event,” Gaston said.
Park had a team-high of eight birdies during the women’s portion of the tournament. Sophomore Blanca Fernández García-Poggio finished the tournament tied for 37th and junior Brooke Tyree tied for 43rd.
Gaston was very pleased with Park’s performance.
“Amber made a wonderful comeback on the back nine,” Gaston said. “She finished with two birdies, anytime you can shoot 75-or-less on this golf course it’s a pretty good score. It is extremely challenging and required a lot of different types of shots.”
Arkansas took home the trophy in their home state for the women’s portion of the tournament, and the University of Alabama titled for a victory for the men.
Next up the A&M golf teams will be taking on two different tournaments. The men will compete in Nashville, Tennessee on Sunday, Oct. 25 to Tuesday, Oct. 27 for the Legends Collegiate Invitational. “The Ally” hosted by Mississippi State in West Point, Mississippi from Monday, Oct. 19 to Wednesday, Oct. 14 will be the women’s next challenge.