BRYAN, Texas—The 13th-ranked Texas A&M men’s golf team carded a 1-over 361 on Sunday en route to a runner-up finish at the Aggie Invitational at Traditions Club.
The Aggies, who played well on the day but were unable to overcome a seven-shot deficit to start the morning, finished the weekend at 40-over par (378-381-361=1120) to end up in a second-place tie with top-ranked Texas (1120, +40). No. 8 Oregon won the team championship after shooting the best round of the day and closed the tournament at 29-over (376-376-357=1109).
“We were really solid today,” head coach J.T. Higgins said. “We didn’t lose the tournament today, we lost it yesterday. All the big numbers yesterday hurt. It was a lot of ground to try and make up and we didn’t get off to a fast start. Oregon was just really patient, really disciplined—they were impressive. They did a great job today.”
Oklahoma (+52) was a distant fourth, followed by Oklahoma State (+59), New Mexico (+68), Baylor (+71), Oregon State (+80), Texas Tech (+93) and Utah (+121). Medalist honors went to New Mexico’s Victor Perez, who was the only player to break par this weekend after finishing with a 3-under 213 (73-71-69). His final round was the only sub-70 round turned in by any player.
Individually, senior Geoff Shaw paced the Aggies with a seventh-place finish after carding a 5-over 221 (77-73-71). Freshman Ty Dunlap placed 11th with an 8-over 224 (71-81-72), while junior Cameron Peck (73-76-77=226) finished in 15th at 10-over. Rounding out the A&M team contingent was redshirt freshman Greg Yates in 20th (81-77-70=228, +12), senior Jordan Russell in 24th (77-74-78=229, +13) and junior Case Cochran in 38th (80-81-71=232, +16). Sophomore Johannes Veerman was A&M’s top individual with a 44th-place showing (77-77-81=235).
Texas A&M now turns its attention to the Big 12 Championships, which get underway next weekend at Whispering Pines in Trinity, Texas. The Aggies will then await word of their postseason fate and open NCAA Regional play in mid-May.
“We’ve got to get healthy, that’s number one, and make sure Cam is ready to go,” Higgins said. “We did better today. We didn’t make the same mistakes we made yesterday. We have to be really stronger mentally for the postseason. We are a really solid team, but to try and win these next three tournaments we’ve got to be great. So we’re going to have to be a lot tougher.”
