
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The No. 14 Texas A&M men’s golf team turned in a 4-under 284 and were tied for third place after the first round of the NCAA Albuquerque Regional on Monday at the Championship Course at UNM. The low five teams after 54 holes advance to next week’s NCAA Championship in Scottsdale, Ariz.
The Aggies were three shots off the pace set by Oregon State, which fired a 7-under par 281. Rounding out the top 10 were Texas Tech (-5), host New Mexico (-4), the Aggies, South Carolina (-3), No. 12 Arizona State (-3), Nevada (-3), Stanford (-1), Boise State (+1) and No. 1 Oklahoma (+1).
Texas A&M was led by senior Dan Erickson and junior Sam Bennett, who both posted 4-under par scores of 68 and were tied for third on the individual leaderboard. Erickson offset a pair of bogeys with six birdies, while Bennett carded just a single bogey along with five birdies.
Senior Walker Lee chipped in an even par round of 72 and freshman Daniel Rodrigues contributed the fourth counting score with a 4-over 76. Sophomore William Paysse posted a 5-over 77.
The Aggies return to action on Tuesday at 9 a.m. CT and will be paired with Arizona State and South Carolina.
Head coach Brian Kortan said:
“It was good to get that first round under our belt and now we can focus on settling in for the next two rounds. This is without question a quality field of teams and we’ll have to put together three good rounds to advance. In our sport, you have to earn it and that will definitely be the case this week. We took a solid first step today.”
Aggies on the Leaderboard (Rd. 1):
Place |
Team/Player |
Rd. 1 |
T3 |
Texas A&M |
284 |
T3 |
Sam Bennett |
68 |
T3 |
Dan Erickson |
68 |
T24 |
Walker Lee |
72 |
T57 |
Daniel Rodrigues |
76 |
T65 |
William Paysse |
77 |
In the Standings:
Place |
Team |
Rd 1 |
|
1 |
Oregon State |
281 |
-7 |
2 |
Texas Tech |
283 |
-5 |
T3 |
New Mexico |
284 |
-4 |
T3 |
Texas A&M |
284 |
-4 |
T5 |
Arizona State |
285 |
-3 |
T5 |
South Carolina |
285 |
-3 |
T5 |
Nevada |
285 |
-3 |
8 |
Stanford |
287 |
-1 |
T9 |
Boise State |
289 |
+1 |
T9 |
Oklahoma |
289 |
+1 |
11 |
Oakland |
294 |
+6 |
12 |
San Diego |
296 |
+8 |
13 |
New Mexico State |
300 |
+12 |
14 |
Prairie View A&M |
323 |
+35 |