Following its first-place finish at the Sea Best Invitational, the No. 11 Texas A&M men’s golf team heads to Manoa, Hawai’i to compete in the 44th John A. Burns Intercollegiate. The tournament, which runs from Thursday to Saturday, is the Aggies’ sixth meet of the season.
Twenty-one schools will compete in the John A. Burns Intercollegiate, including No. 7 Arizona, No. 14 North Carolina and No. 16 BYU, according to Golfstat.
The five Aggies representing the team this week all placed in the top 20 at the Sea Best Invitational, helping to secure the win for A&M. Junior Walker Lee and freshman William Paysse tied for third with a score of 4-under and senior Dan Erickson placed eighth at 2-under. Freshman Jimmy Lee placed 12th, his highest collegiate placement, breaking even on the course, while sophomore Sam Bennett scored 1-over to place 19th.
The performances from the Aggies this season place them as the highest-ranked team in the SEC, according to Golfstat. Leading up to this tournament, the Aggies have had five consecutive top-five finishes.
“This trip is circled on the calendar every year,” A&M coach J.T. Higgins told 12thman.com. “We love the course and we always seem to play well here.”
The Aggies have had top-five placements at the John A. Burns Intercollegiate in all of the last 10 years, including a win in 2018 and a second place finish in 2019, led by Walker Lee who scored 9-under to place second. Among A&M’s competition is BYU senior Peter Kuest, who placed first in last year’s tournament.
“I’m just focused on going out there and putting three solid rounds together,” Kuest told byucougars.com.
The Aggies will kick off the tournament on Thursday in Hawaii.
“The field is really good, the weather is fantastic and we will get in a lot of quality practice,” Higgins told 12thman.com. “On top of all that, it’s a week in paradise with golf, sun, and surf. – pretty tough to beat.”