The concept of an offseason is virtually nonexistent for golfers in Texas. With the conclusion of the fall semester, as days got shorter and temperatures started to drop, Texas A&M men’s golf continued to bring the heat.
The Aggies’ fall road run included five tournaments, from which they brought home two first-place titles and a third-place finish. With team trophies piling up in the display case, the Fightin’ Farmers figured the best way to get a hot start in the spring was to stay hot, even whilst not in season.
After a month-long hiatus, with the inaugural Maroon & White Cup in between, the Aggies navigated their way to tournaments across the globe — this time individually — in a proud display of maroon and white.
The White Sands Bahamas Men’s Invitational welcomed a recurring trio from the starting five. The efforts of one in particular, however, marked a pace greater than the majority of the 70-person field.
Just two strokes shy of first place, sophomore Wheaton Ennis settled in a spot he had grown all too familiar with. A three-spot jump in the final day resulted in a tie for sixth place, marking his third sixth-place finish in three consecutive tournaments, two of which previously contributed to A&M’s first and third-place finishes that capped off its season.
The junior pair of Kris Kuvaas and Aaron Pounds joined the competition at The Ocean Club Golf Course at Atlantis as well. As the newest Aggie addition, Kuvaas finished his three rounds at 1-under, landing him in a tie for 26th place.
Pounds had a successful fall run, as he took home one individual title along with two top-five finishes. Even with three atypical rounds in the Bahamas from The Woodlands native, he still managed to walk away with a 9-over three-day total.
With a sole appearance in the Aggie lineup over the course of the fall, sophomore Alex Long made his second showing in both the Orlando International Amateur Championship and the New Year’s Invitational.
The Florida native marked a placing he hadn’t yet reached in his collegiate career. A 6-under three-round total in Orlando secured Long a fourth place finish, just four strokes away from first.
Ennis settled for just a moment before he put back on the maroon and white, this time with an invitation to the Patriot All-America in Litchfield Park, Arizona.
Faced with 82 golfers from the cream of the collegiate crop, Ennis stood as the lone Aggie at the Wigwam Golf Club. Carding two rounds under par, he put up a 1-under three-round total and tied for 11th place.
The Fightin’ Farmers will travel coast to coast this spring, with seven events on their plate before they enter the postseason.
Last year, the Aggies dealt with sour endings during such title races. Enduring three rounds of stroke play and three rounds of match play, they bit the bullet in the final day against the then-No. 8 Florida Gators, 1-4, losing grip of what would’ve been the program’s first Southeastern Conference title.
A&M couldn’t find a break in its favor at the national level either. While the Aggies marked a runner-up finish in the regional tournament, the championship was another story. Even with former student Phichaksn Maichon placing second and recording the best national championship finish in program history, the Aggies still couldn’t pull it off.
After four rounds, they missed the cutoff needed to advance to the match play portion of the championship by five strokes.
However, the Aggie swings have seen some major strides in improvements since then.
Pounds jumped 134 spots in the national ranks since the end of the spring season, where he currently sits at No. 29. Ennis has maintained his position inside the top 100 at the No. 89 spot.
A&M’s head coach Brian Kortan will continue his fifth year leading the Maroon and White, and while he hasn’t brought a conference or national title home, he has strung together a group that is capable of doing so.
A&M now patiently awaits its tee time at The Vintage Club on Sunday, Jan. 25, taking on Stanford in Indian Wells, California, for an exhibition match to kick off the spring season.
