This 7072-yard course is considered one of the most competitive courses to courses in the State of Arizona. However, it seemed like a practice course to the Texas A&M men’s golf team.
On Monday, Jan. 30, the Aggies traveled to Tucson, Ariz., to compete in the Arizona Thunderbirds Intercollegiate. Due to the inclement weather, delays haunted the Aggies early in the invitational.
Unfortunately for the 14 other teams, the weather wasn’t enough to halt the maroon and white.
Day 1
After an hour delay due to frost, A&M did not tee off until 10 a.m. Monday morning and this resulted in a slow start right off the tee box.
5th year Sam Bennett fought hard to reach even through the front-nine, however coming up short, he finished the 2-under-par at the end of the day. Fortunately for the Aggies, junior Daniel Rodrigues and freshman Jaime Montogo finished Day 1 6-under-par.
Due to not enough light, several players had to end the day early with six holes left to play. As a team, they returned to the hotel in third place with a whole day of golf left to go.
Day 2
The Aggies train left the station Tuesday morning and didn’t stop for anyone.
Sophomore Phichaksn Maichon played an impressive 6-under-par through the second round and helped keep the Aggies afloat to eventually tie them with Arizona.
Bennett struggled sinking birdie putts in the middle third of the second round being only 1-under-par going into the 11th hole. Noticeably frustrated during the second round of play, Bennett said staying patient helped him on his short game.
“It was a pretty frustrating round for me at first,” Bennett said to 12thman.com. “I wasn’t getting many putts to fall, but I was able to stay patient.”
A&M coaches Brian Kortan and Matt Fast told Bennett that they were tied with the Wildcats with just four holes remaining. With a chance to put Arizona’s five year win streak to an end, Bennett knew exactly what he had to do.
“I knew I needed to make a few birdies coming down the stretch,” Bennett said to 12thman.com.
And Bennett did exactly that.
Bennett was able to make three out of his last four birdies to close off the tournament and secure the hardware for the plane ride home.
As a team, A&M finished in first place with a 36-under-par performance that gave them a comfy three shot advantage over the Wildcats and a 10 shot advantage over California.
Maichon and Bennett tied in sixth place for the tournament with a 9-under-par performance. Montojo followed the two with an 8-under-par performance to place him eighth.
This marked the Aggies’ third tournament win of the season with three months left to go until the SEC Championships on April 19.
A&M will travel to Lihue, Hawai’i to compete at the John A. Burns Intercollegiate for a three day tournament on Feb. 16.