After the third and final day of stroke play at the SEC Championship in St. Simons Island, Georgia, No. 2 Texas A&M men’s golf sat in a tie for seventh at 11-over par. The Aggies fired a two-under par final round on Friday to earn the last spot in this weekend’s match play.
With only eight teams qualifying for the weekend, Texas A&M was forced to put in the work to bounce back from a poor first round on Wednesday. The Aggies took care of business, firing two consecutive rounds under par to jump inside the cutoff line for the match play portion of the event.
“I’m thrilled with the heart and pride these guys showed the last two days,” A&M head coach J.T. Higgins said to 12thman.com. “You spot a field like this 16 shots and have to move up six spots on the leaderboard to keep playing, this is an amazing accomplishment. The last two days we’ve been as good as anybody.”
Making the turn on Friday in the final round, the Aggies sat at nine-over par and outside of the cut line to play the weekend. However, the team rallied to shoot a combined four-under par score on the back nine. Texas A&M is set to face No. 11 LSU in the SEC Quarterfinals.
“Our back nine was amazing today,” Higgins added to 12thman.com. “Our guys knew what they needed to do and where they stood. I’m really proud of everybody. It was a great team effort, but Chandler, Paysse and Brandon really stepped up big coming down the stretch. Dan also gave a great round. He struggled early but battled and kept it together.”
Junior Chandler Phillips was the top Aggie-finisher after stroke play. The All-American jumped 16 spots on the leaderboard on Friday with a three-under par final round. Phillips now has seven top-10 finishes in 11 events this season. He was tied for second in par 4 scoring (-1) and was top five in total birdies (12) for the week.
“Chandler put us on his back the last two days with a 68 and a 67 and gave us a chance to keep playing,” Higgins said to 12thman.com.
Senior Andrew Paysse finished at four-over par in a tie for 26th, birdying three of his last five holes in the final round. Teammate Brandon Smith ended stroke play in a tie for 36th at seven-over par. The sophomore was tied for fourth in total birdies for the tournament (12).
Rounding out the Aggie squad were freshman Walker Lee (+9) and sophomore Dan Erickson (+11), who finished in ties for 46th and 52nd, respectively.
The Aggies and the Tigers will tee it up on Saturday morning in the SEC Championship Quarterfinals, as the match play portion of the event gets underway.