The No. 4 Texas A&M men’s golf team played in Birmingham, Alabama on Monday and Tuesday, returning to Aggieland with their second tournament win of the season.
The Aggies came out victorious in Shoal Creek Invitational, finishing at 8-under-par (856) and nine shots ahead of North Florida. All five A&M players finished in the top 20.
“Any time you get a win in this sport it’s exciting, and we’re thrilled to be coming home with the trophy,” head coach J.T. Higgins told 12thman.com. “I’m proud of the guys for building up such a big lead that we were able to survive a pretty rough back nine. I think there were some valuable lessons learned on that back nine today.”
As a team, A&M was even par after round one before firing a red-hot 11-under second round that concluded on Tuesday morning due to a weather delay. Even with a final round of 3-over-par, the Aggies managed a comfortable win.
“That second round was just really great golf,” Higgins told 12thman.com. “I can’t tell you how proud I am of them. We were playing great, got called off the golf course, then had to come back in the morning and finish that round off. I was really worried that we would not be able to keep that momentum going, but the guys really stepped up and played fantastic this morning to finish off a really good round of golf.”
Sam Bennett, the 2018 4A Texas State Champion, made his collegiate debut this week. The freshman got his Aggie career off to a strong start, finishing in a tie for fourth at 2-under-par and emerging as A&M’s top finisher. Bennet was number one in total birdies for the tournament with 14.
Bennett’s 6-under-par 66 in the second round, which included birdies on five of his first six holes, shot him up to the top of the leaderboard. Despite a 4-over-par final round, he held on to his top-five finish.
Brandon Smith, an All-American in 2018, earned his second consecutive top-10 finish with a tie for seventh at 1-under-par. The junior played solid and consistent golf over all three rounds, shooting scores of 73, 70 and 72. Smith made the top five in both par 3 scoring (-1) and total birdies (12) for the week.
“Sam Bennett had a great week,” Higgins told 12thman.com. “Everyone contributed this week, everyone had at least one good round, and everyone had at least one round under par, so there are a lot of positives.”
Senior Chandler Phillips, also a 2018 All-American, finished the tournament at 1-over-par in a tie for 14th. He had a strong start to the tournament, with a combined score of 3-under-par after two rounds. However, Phillips had trouble in the final round and shot a 4-over-par 76. Phillips’ power was illustrated by him being tied for first in par 5 scoring (-7).
Junior Dan Erickson shared 17th place after sandwiching a solid round of 2-under-par between rounds of 1-over and 3-over. Making his season debut, Reese Ramsey managed a tie for 17th after shooting the tournament’s best final round score and jumping into the top 20. The sophomore was one of a handful of players to hole an eagle this week.
“Reese Ramsey this afternoon, shot 4-under. It was the best round of the day,” Higgins told 12thman.com. “He found something that really gave him control of the golf ball and put it everything in play. …[He] was able to attack and did a great job on the back nine.”
The Aggies’ next competition will take place Oct. 6-8 in Carrollton, where they will play in the Westheimer Intercollegiate.