After 54 holes of golf at Sawgrass’ Dye’s Valley Course, the Texas A&M men’s golf team finished in sixth place in their first tournament of spring at the Sea Best Invitational in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
“Feels like we’ve seen this result before where we’re contending and doing [okay] before we play a horrendous back nine down the stretch and let it slip away,” head coach J.T. Higgins told 12thman.com. “I think everybody is pretty frustrated and disappointed because we were playing well, even par through 12 holes, and we end up 12-over.”
Freshman Chandler Phillips was a standout on the final day of the tournament. Phillips finished two under par at 68 as he birdied three of his final six holes. With his performance, he jumped up 11 spots on the leaderboard to seventh place.
“Individually, I could not be more proud of Chandler,” J.T. Higgins told 12thman.com. “Without him it would have been a disastrous finish. He had the low round of the day and to finish in the top 10 at this tournament is really good. He was great coming down the stretch, three under on his last six holes. I really admired his grit and determination today.”
As a team, the Aggies turned in a lackluster performance of 27 over par; while Florida, at 14 under, won with a 27-stroke lead over second place Liberty University.
Senior Andrew Lister finished six over par while sophomore Andrew Paysse rounded out the invitational at just three over. Lister finished the tournament with a tie for 18th as Paysse closed Tuesday in a tie for 12th. Other Aggie’s in the tournament included seniors Ben Crancer and Adria Arnaus, whom finished 12 and 15 over, respectively.
A&M’s men’s golf team returns to the course Feb. 17 where the Aggies will head to Kauai, Hawaii for the three-day John A. Burns Invitational.
