The Aggie men’s golf team won its first tournament of the season Tuesday after attaining a first place ranking at the Royal Oaks Intercollegiate.
A&M set a tournament record shooting 22-under (278-273-279=830), yet held off a highly competitive No. 25 Duke team by only a stroke. The Aggies have owned the Royal Oaks tournament, winning it three of the last four years. A&M’s charge to victory was the result of tremendous individual performances as four players finished in the field’s top-13.
“We feel like we’ve been playing really well all fall and things just weren’t going our way, so to get a win feels good,” head coach J.T. Higgins said. “It was nice to see everything come together. All five guys played pretty well, and to place four in the top 13 is really impressive. But at the same time that’s not real surprising to me, because I think we’re capable of doing that more often than not.”
Junior All-American Cameron Peck put a stamp on A&M’s victory, closing the last round with a staggering 66 and finishing tied for second at 8-under (70-69-66=205). Senior All-American Jordan Russell (66-67-72=205) joined Peck in a tie for second with an 8-under effort as well. Only MJ Daffue of Lamar finished higher than A&M’s Peck-Russell tandem, beating them by three strokes.
“Today’s round starts with Cameron,” Higgins said. “He was firing on all cylinders, just dead aim at the flag over and over again. He was able to make birdies and that was pretty impressive to watch. That was as good a ball-striking round as I’ve seen in a long time.”
Standout sophomore Johannes Veerman, touted by Higgins and Russell as a player to watch before the season, had another solid outing, finishing ninth at 4-under (70-69-70=209). Redshirt freshman Greg Yates placed thirteenth at 2-under (72-68-71=211). Geoff Shaw rounded out the Aggies finishing 50 at 6-over (74-73-72=219). Meanwhile, sophomore Jade Scott played as an individual and turned in a 10-over 223 (72-79-72).
“Overall, I’d say we kind of struggled off the tee a little bit, but we were still able to put together some birdies and have a good round,” Higgins said. “The team did a really good job of not trying to force things out of difficult situations. We stayed patient and were able to come out with a win.”
The Aggies return to action Monday and Tuesday at the Amelia National Intercollegiate. The event serves replacement for the cancelled Husky Invitational tournament that was set as A&M’s debut tournament in September.
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The No. 17 Aggie women’s golf team climbed the rankings Tuesday to finish third at the final round of the Alamo Invitational at Briggs Ranch Golf Course. A&M began the final round in eighth place but roared back into the top 5, turning in a team score of 880 (298-290-292).
“I am very proud of this team and what they accomplished today,” A&M head coach Trelle McCombs said. “We set out to make a comeback and we ended up shooting the second-best score of the day and moving up five spots. This team had a slot of heart and didn’t let the fact that we were several shots out of the lead affect them. It wasn’t anything special that we did today; we truly left a ton of birdies out there. We just couldn’t quite get our putters hot this week.”
Sophomore Katerina Ruzickova led the Aggies with a 1-under 71 in the third round and finished tied for fifth at an even par (74-71-71=216), only three strokes behind the winner.
“Katerina played another great tournament,” McCombs said. “She is so solid coming down the stretch. Yesterday, I walked 16 holes with her after she made tow bogeys on the first two holes. She ended up shooting 71 and I believe she carried that over into today. She never looked rattled out there. She’s a special player and one that I’m glad plays on our team as opposed to playing against us. She’s had a great start to her year and I look for her to wok hard in the off season to improve even more.”
Freshman Patricia Garcia carded a 1-under 71 as well — her best round of her career thus far. Her score placed tied for 21st while junior Sarah Beth Davis tied for 17th with 221 (74-72-75). Junior Mary Michael Maggio tied for 27th with 224 (76-73-75) and sophomore Natalie Reeves rounded out the Aggies finishing 45th with 228 (75-74-79). Junior Susy Grunden competed as an individual tied for 61st with 235 (74-85-76).
This event was the final tournament for A&M this fall. The Aggies begin their spring season Feb. 26 at the Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate in New Orleans, La..