A 6-under final round showing was not enough for the No. 5 ranked Texas A&M men’s golf team to finish in the top three at the 2020 Lamkin Grips San Diego Classic which concluded Tuesday at the San Diego Country Club in Chula Vista, California.
The Aggies finished Tuesday’s final round with one of the tournament’s best scores of 6-under par, but A&M’s comeback effort lost steam in the final few holes as they settled for a fourth place finish.
A&M finished the tournament with a combined three round total of three shots under par, which was five strokes behind tournament winner Tennessee. The team did show signs of improvement as the tournament progressed, climbing all the way to the fourth spot after a dismal team total of 6-over par had them in a tie for 11th place following the first round.
“We didn’t get off to a great start, but we hung in there,” head coach J.T. Higgins told 12thman.com. “We actually made some birdies coming down the stretch to put ourselves in a pretty good position, but we just kind of lost it on the last few holes.”
The final holes from the Aggies didn’t resemble their showings from the past few weeks as multiple errors saw their chances of contending for the tournament slip away.
“We had some three-putts on the few holes that really cost us. We just didn’t finish as strong as we usually do,” Higgins told 12thman.com. “I’m not sure if it would have been enough for us to win, but we definitely should have gotten into the top two and challenge Tennessee a little bit.”
The team was led by senior Dan Erickson, who finished in fourth place on the player leaderboard with a 212 (-4) individual score. Erickson’s fourth place was his best finish since his second place at the Gopher Invitational at the beginning of the season.
The other stellar performance from A&M was by sophomore Sam Bennett, who tied for fifth place with a 213 (-3) individual score. Bennett’s final round of 3-under par (69), which was the team’s best round of the tournament, was highlighted by his finish of four birdies in the final six holes.
Freshman Jimmy Lee fought back from an opening round of 4-over par (76) with rounds of even (72) and 2-under (70) to finish in a tie for 28th place at 2-over.
Junior Walker Lee struggled to get birdies on his scorecard as he finished the tournament in a tie for 51st place at 5-over.
A quadruple bogey on the ninth hole in the first round was part of the struggles this week for junior Reese Ramsey who finished in a tie for 72nd at 10-over.
In the Coronado Individual, redshirt freshman William Paysse tied for third at 3-under and senior Brandon Smith finished eighth at 1-under.
The team came into the San Diego Classic after a second place finish at the Cabo Collegiate that was preceded by back-to-back wins to start the spring season.
The Aggies hope for a better performance next week when they participate in the Floridian Invitational at the Floridian National Golf Club on March 16-17.