BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Texas A&M freshman golfer Chandler Phillips was honored Wednesday by the leagues’ coaches with a spot on the All-SEC second team. Meanwhile, teammate Charlie Benell garnered a spot on the SEC Men’s Golf Community Service Team.
Phillips, a native of Huntsville, Texas, has emerged as one of the SEC’s most competitive golfers during his rookie campaign in Aggieland. He leads Texas A&M in both top-five finishes (3) and top-10 showings (5) while ranking second on the squad with a scoring average of 72.89 during 13 events.
During the 2016 SEC Championships, Phillips turned heads with an impressive fifth-place finish that stood out as the the second-highest placing of any rookie in the field.
A final round 66 from Phillips during the Desert Mountain Intercollegiate in early March stands out as the second-lowest round by an Aggie this season and helped propel Phillips to a third-place showing at the event. The scorecard was one of 13 rounds of par or lower for the freshman in 36 total rounds this season.
In total Phillips ranked in the top 20 on the individual leaderboard in seven of his 13 tournaments this season, including a runner-up showing at the Valspar Collegiate Invitational at Floridian in late March.
Benell earned his spot on the SEC Men’s Golf Community Service Team after he was singled out by his team for his dedication to helping others. As a Texas A&M student-athlete, the Pacific Palisades, Calif., native has been involved in Aggies CAN, which is the largest student-led food drive in the country, as well as the Big Event and Hard Hats for Little Heads, a helmet safety program for second-graders in the local community and surrounding areas.
Back in the Golden State, Benell makes his contributions in his hometown by participating in the Special Olympics as well as Inner City Arts, an organization that provides elementary, middle and high school students, many living in Los Angeles’ poorest neighborhoods, with the tools and skills they need to succeed academically and personally, and the LA-based food bank Loaves and Fishes.
The Aggie golf team will learn its postseason destination when pairings and competition sites for the 2016 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship are revealed live on Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. (CT) during Golf Channel’s Morning Drive.
The field for the 2016 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships will consist of 81 qualifying schools, which includes 31 conference automatic qualifiers, 50 teams selected at-large and 45 individuals not on those teams. Six 54-hole regional tournaments will be conducted May 16-18. Thirteen teams and ten individuals not on those teams will compete at each of three regionals while the other three regionals will have 14 teams and five individuals not on those teams. The low five teams and the low individual not on those teams from each regional will advance to the finals to be played May 27-June 1 at Eugene Country Club in Eugene, Ore.
The six regional championship sites include including Tuscaloosa, Ala. (Ol’ Colony Golf Complex), Marana, Ariz. (Gallery Golf Club), Kohler, Wis. (Blackwolf Run Meadow Valleys Course), Albuquerque, N.M. (Championship Course at University of New Mexico), Stillwater, Okla. (Karsten Golf Club) and Franklin, Tenn. (Vanderbilt Legends Club).
FIRST TEAM ALL-SEC
Lee McCoy, Georgia
Sam Horsfield, Florida
Michael Johnson, Auburn
Robby Shelton, Alabama
Matt NeSmith, South Carolina
Matthias Schwab, Vanderbilt
Zach Wright, LSU
Greyson Sigg, Georgia
SECOND TEAM ALL-SEC
Will Gordon, Vanderbilt
Tyler McDaniel, Kentucky
Taylor Moore, Arkansas
Patrick Martin, Vanderbilt
Davis Riley, Alabama
Sepp Straka, Georgia
Chandler Phillips, Texas A&M
Zach Healy, Georgia
COACH OF THE YEAR
Chris Haack, Georgia
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Lee McCoy, Georgia
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Sam Horsfield, Florida
SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Euan Walker, Missouri
ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM
Patrick Martin, Vanderbilt
Sam Horsfield, Florida
Will Gordon, Vanderbilt
Davis Riley, Alabama
Jacob Solomon, Auburn
COMMUNITY SERVICE TEAM
Robby Prater, Alabama
Taylor Moore, Arkansas
Jake Mondy, Auburn
Ryan Orr, Florida
Jack Larkin, Georgia
Harrison Greenberry, Kentucky
Zach Wright, LSU
Forrest Gamble, Ole Miss
Ross Bell, Mississippi State
Hayden Buckley, Missouri
Brendan Gramley, South Carolina
Juan Carlos Serrano Guevara, Tennessee
Charlie Benell, Texas A&M
Carson Jacobs, Vanderbilt
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics