No. 3 Texas A&M men’s golf got their spring season underway with a second place finish at the Arizona Intercollegiate. The Aggies finished just two shots behind hosts Arizona, who fired a red hot 15-under par final round to claim the title at 10-over par (860).
“It was a great match.” Texas A&M head coach J.T. Higgins said to 12thman.com. “Coming down the stretch, there were really three teams in Baylor, Arizona and us. You have to hand it to Arizona, they played fantastic today [Arizona]. I was proud of the way guys played after a really poor first round. Just goes to show you can’t dig yourself that big of a hole and expect to win.”
Golfers battled through tough, windy conditions on day one at the Sewailo Golf Club, leading many teams, including Texas A&M, to shoot well over par. However, the Aggies fought back in the final two rounds, shooting five-under par and six-under par to post a total of 12-over (862).
Dan Erickson, in his first start of the season, was the top finisher for the Aggies, ending the tournament in a tie for third at two-over par. As with the trend, Erickson carded an 80 in the first round but managed to fire his two best rounds as an Aggie to finish the tournament. The sophomore tied for second in both par 5 scoring (-4) and total birdies (13) for the week.
Just one shot back of his teammate, senior Andrew Paysse finished in a tie for seventh to earn his third top-10 finish of the season. Paysse finished on top in par 3 scoring (-1) and tied for second in par 5 scoring (-4) for the tournament.
Sophomore Josh Gliege narrowly missed his third top-10 finish of the season, ending at six-over par in a tie for 11th. The junior finished inside the top-10 in par 4 scoring for the week.
Rounding out the Texas A&M squad were junior Chandler Phillips (+10) and freshman Walker Lee (+11), who finished in ties for 28th and 34th, respectively. Phillips, who won the Badger Invitational in September and is the team’s stroke leader for the season, had an uncharacteristic week on the scorecard, but did manage to shoot a one-under par 70 to close out the competition. Lee was one of only a handful of players to record an eagle this week.
“I’m really proud of Dan Erickson,”Higgins told 12thman.com. “He finished seven strokes better than when he woke up this morning and that has to be a good feeling. He looked great today and played fantastic golf. We had four guys under par in the final round and that’s pretty exceptional. I like this team. We have the makings of a championship-caliber program we just have to shore some things up.”
In a separate medalist portion of the Arizona Intercollegiate, Texas A&M had three golfers competing as individuals. Reese Ramsey finished in a tie for 10th at six-over par, Max Miller finished in a tie for 17th at nine-over par and Kavan Eubank finished in a tie for 26th at 12-over par.
The Aggies will be back on the course Feb. 15-17 when they will compete at the John A. Burns Intercollegiate in Lihue, Hawaii.