Courtesy of Craig Bisacre/Texas A&M Athletics
Senior member of the Texas A&M golf team Sam Bennett secured a podium finish at the second tournament of the 2021 season.
The No. 17 Texas A&M men’s golf team edged a win over No. 13 Auburn in the SEC Match Play Preview Tuesday, Sept. 27 and finished fourth for SEC Stroke Play at Old Overton Club in Vestavia Hills, Ala.
The Aggies’ 3-2 match play win over Auburn was secured by sophomore Vishnu Sadagopan who clinched the hard-fought victory over sophomore Brendan Valdes with a par on holes 10 and 13, after losing the first hole. The three-day tournament concluded Sept. 27, and the team will head to Arkansas on Oct. 3 for the Blessings Collegiate Invitational.
Other notables for A&M include a win from freshman Jaime Montojo who was down early in the match but rallied for a 5-4 win over junior Ryan Eshleman, while junior Daniel Rodrigues forged his way to a dominant 3-2 victory over junior Carson Bacha.
“Dani [Rodrigues] was never down all day and Vish [Sadagopan] fought back after being down early,” coach Brian Kortan told 12thMan.com. “Jaime [Montojo] was down two after three holes but then just took off and smoked him. It was good to have a match like this where the guys can get some match play experience, and to beat a really high-quality team like Auburn is a great way to end the week.”
In SEC Stroke Play, Rodrigues led the team in a tie for fifth on the individual leaderboard after finishing the third round at 4-under 66.
Rodrigues finished stroke play at 11-under par scoring rounds of 69-64-66 — 199 and added a sub-200 54-hole total to his resume.
“Dani [Rodrigues] carried us in this tournament, and there’s not too many under-200 54-hole scores in our history at Texas A&M,” Kortan told 12thMan.com. “This has been a heck of a tournament for him. I’m proud of the way he stayed present and continued to fight.”
Fifth-year senior Sam Bennett tied for 17th at 5-under par, sophomore Phichaksn Maichon finished tied for 23rd at 3-under par and Montojo tied for 44th at 2-over par.
“I’m proud of the way we battled over the last 36 holes after shooting even-par in the first round,” Kortan told 12thMan.com. “We didn’t give in.”
Vanderbilt was the top finisher after two days of stroke play, finishing at 39-under, scoring the top seed in match play. A&M finished fourth in stroke play at 21-under.
The Aggies will travel Oct. 3-5 to Fayetteville, Ark., to compete at the Blessings Collegiate Invitational.
The Blessings Invitational will be held Oct. 3-5 at The Blessings Golf Club, an over 7,900-yard course. This course is designed to challenge championship golfers on every shot as it traverses the Clear Creek floodplain with a plateau that rises to 65 feet above the floodplain and is split by a number of ravines, according to ArkansasRazorbacks.com.
Follow the team @AggieMensGolf on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Editor’s Note: Emily Denton is an agriculture communications and journalism senior and contributed this piece from the course JOUR 359, Reporting Sports, to The Battalion.