Following a less-than-ideal performance at the Maridoe Intercollegiate, the No. 16 Texas A&M men’s golf team looks to return to its high-level play this Friday at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate Invitational at the Lakeside Course in Alpharetta, Georgia.
The Aggies face steep competition with No. 1 Georgia Tech and No. 4 Wake Forest in the field, in addition to four other ranked teams.
For players like junior Walker Lee and senior Brandon Smith, repeating the success of their first two rounds of the Maridoe Intercollegiate would be ideal. Both players shot 2-over through their first two rounds, but struggled in their final 18, shooting 4- and 5-over respectively.
Senior Dan Erickson struggled through his first two rounds last week and was unable to find a rhythm, shooting an uncharacteristic 12-over. However, he appeared to find his stroke after firing a 3-over 75 on his final round and carried this into qualifiers to shoot a 6-over, which was third-best on the team.
Coach J.T. Higgins has gone with a lineup change for the Aggies going into the fourth tournament of the year, picking senior Josh Gliege and redshirt freshman William Paysee over freshman Jimmy Lee, who struggled in last week’s tournament in Carrollton.
Gliege has appeared to clean up his game after a sloppy 25-over last week and a 14-over 86 on his second round. However, he shot even-par this week during qualifiers. Jimmy Lee, who was at 1-under through two rounds of qualifiers, fired a 16-over final round and was not chosen to participate this weekend. Paysee takes his spot in hopes of redeeming his 16-over par performance last weekend at the Maridoe Intercollegiate.
Weather will be in the 60s for the most part, but there is a high chance of rain on Saturday, making it imperative that the Aggies take advantage of Friday’s course conditions. Fortunately, their best round has come in the first 18 holes in two of their first three tournaments.