No. 16 Texas A&M men’s golf earned a third-place finish at the Marquette Intercollegiate after three days of competitive play at Erin Hills Golf Course in Hartford, Wisconsin. The Aggies posted rounds of 309, 292 and 289 to finish at 26-over 890, tying Florida for third. Clemson won the team title at 20-over 884, and San Diego State placed second at 23-over 887.
The Aggies battled challenging conditions as the golf gods blew across the course on the first day in Sunday’s wind-filled opening round, where no player on the course finished under par.
Sophomore Wheaton Ennis led the Maroon and White, and although he struggled in the early stages, he steadied out with a 2-over 74 to tie for third after Day 1. He sat only one stroke short of the leaders in junior Phillip Kench from San Diego State and junior Camden Braidech of Chattanooga.
At the end stages, both sophomore Alex Long and junior Aaron Pounds wrapped up round one in the top 20, tied for 17th place at 5-over 77.
At the end of the first day, A&M tied for fifth place on Sunday . While A&M shot a respectable 21-over 309, Clemson had the golden club that day with a 15-over 303, followed by San Diego State (+18), Oral Roberts (+19) and UC Davis (+20).
A&M responded after its first day’s struggles with one of the strongest team performances of the tournament on Day 2, elevating two spots on the chart. The elite performer of the day was Pounds, with a score of 2-under 70 at the 7,551-yard course, on a day in which no golfer was under par through the two rounds.
And not to forget, the highlight of his top performance was an eagle on the par-5, 576-yard No. 7, in which Pounds kept the Fightin’ Farmers steady, with a rank of fourth in the field with 25 pars through 36 holes.
As for Pounds, he set the bar for Day 2 for the Aggies. Ennis kept his clubs fair, which kept him in the race for medalist honors with a shot of 1-over 73, which included four birdies.
Junior Kris Kuvaas had a team-best 6 birdies; however, bad luck and a few off-marker shots kept him on his toes. Long landed himself in 28th place with a second day score of a 4-over 76.
The Aggies showed up to Tuesday’s final round with a mindset to try to punch up and climb the ranks. Paced by Pounds, who pounded away the ball and later handed in a scorecard of 3-over 219, which tied for fourth and marked his second top-five finish of the season.
Along with Pounds, both Kuvaas and Long scored an even 72 for the final round at the 7,551-yard Erin Hills course, and right behind — by one stroke — was sophomore Wheaton Ennis in sixth place at 4-over 220.
Ennis finished strong, even though an unfortunate double bogey on No. 9 tried to keep him down; he fought the bad luck and had a strong close out on Tuesday’s round. Kuvaas tied for 30th place at 12-over 228, and he ranked fourth in the field with 11 birdies.
The Aggies improved their team score each day of the tournament, cutting 20 strokes from the first to final round. A&M concludes its fall schedule Oct. 25–26 at the Steelwood Collegiate Invitational in Loxley, Alabama.
