The Texas A&M men and women’s golf teams took advantage of the fair weather this past weekend as they competed in tournaments, with the men finishing in 9th as a team at the Aggie Invitational in Bryan and the women placing in 7th in the Clemson invitational in South Carolina.
Senior Andrew Lister tied for fourth, while Junior Thanya Pattamakijsakul and sophomore Maddie Szeryk finished tied for 18th for the women.
Lister wrapped up his final day of play shooting two-under par and was one-under for the tournament.
“I’m really happy with the way Lister played,” men’s head coach J.T. Higgins said. “It was a really good tournament for him all around. Especially, you know, he lost his spot and came back and won the qualifier by a big margin and then was our best player this week.”
Lister said staying home during the Floridian tournament helped him build his confidence for today.
“It was the first tournament I’ve missed in awhile,” he said. “I think it just motivated me to work harder. I already was working hard, but it motivated me some more.”
A total score of 220 put Szeryk and Pattamakijsakul in a tie for 18th, with Szeryk shooting one over par and Pattamakijsakul at three over par, respectively.
Junior Bianca Fabrizio had the best round of the day on Sunday. After birdieing six holes and finishing at one-under for the day, she landed in a tie for 26th.
Junior’s Andrea Jonama and Callie Scheffler rounded out the women’s team, finishing in a tie for 45th and 60th. Competing individually, redshirt freshman Chloe Velasco shot 14-over par and finished in a tie for 57th.
On the men’s side, sophomores Connor Black and Andrew Payasse competed individually, shooting eight and nine-over par, respectively.
Payasse’s nine-over par matched his teammates senior Ben Crancer and sophomore Cameron Champ’s scores, all tying for 32nd place. Freshman Chandler Phillips finished at 11-over par.
Higgins said he isn’t happy with how his team finished at home, given the SEC championship is just around the corner.
“Right now, I’m not very good,” he said. “I can’t believe that we couldn’t make any birdies on our home golf course in perfect conditions — the greens are perfect, there’s no wind. It’s just there for the taking. We just didn’t have it this weekend.”
The men and women will return to the course April 15-17 for the SEC Championships. The women are defending SEC champions.
