AWENDAW, S.C. -- The 15th-ranked Texas A&M men’s golf team is in fifth place, four shots out of the lead, after Sunday’s first round of the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate at Bulls Bay Golf Club outside Charleston.
The Aggies carded a 289 to sit 1-over through 18 holes and trail co-leaders Kentucky (285, -3) and No. 3 Auburn (285, -3) by just four strokes. No. 18 LSU is in third place (286, -2), three shots ahead of A&M, with No. 24 Virginia (287, -1) two shots up on the Aggies in fourth.
“I’m really happy with the way we played today,” head coach J.T. Higgins said. “We were real patient and the guys did a real good job of trying to take everything one shot at a time and sticking to the game plan. We were composed, really looked professional and hit the ball well. We’re in great position and I couldn’t be more pleased with what they did today.”
North Carolina (290, +2) is in sixth, followed by South Carolina (+3), N.C. State (+3), Ole Miss (+4), Maryland (+5), Augusta State (+6), Wofford (+6), host College of Charleston (+7), Wake Forest (+10) and Wisconsin (+13).
Junior All-American Cameron Peck continued his strong spring, turning in a 2-under 70 to sit in a tie for second place and just one shot back of the first-day leader, Ji Soo Park of Virginia. Senior All-American Jordan Russell (71, -1) is one shot back in a tie for 10th, while senior Geoff Shaw (72, E) is in a tie for 18th. Freshman Ty Dunlap (76, +4) and junior Drew Evans (82, +10) round out the A&M contingent.
“We gave up some shots before and after the rain delay, which was a little disappointing, but otherwise I was really pleased with everything I saw,” Higgins said. “We didn’t make a lot of putts, but we’re getting used to the greens and we’ll figure that out over the next few days. I’m looking forward to tomorrow, making up ground on the leaders and having a chance to win this golf tournament.”
The second round gets underway on Monday starting at 9 a.m. (ET). Live scoring is available on golfstat.com and aggieathletics.com.
