News release from Texas A&M Athletics:
FORT WORTH – The No. 19 Texas A&M men’s golf team ended day one of the Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational in seventh place grinding out rounds of 6-over 286 and 5-over 285 at the iconic Colonial Country Club.
The Aggies own an 11-over 571 and start Tuesday’s final round with the fifth-place duo of Georgia and Arizona State in striking distance at 8-over 568. Oklahoma leads the pack at 9-under 551.
Phichaksn Maichon and Aaron Pounds lead the Aggies tied with eight others for 24th place at 3-over 143. Pounds paced the Maroon & White in the opening round with an even 70. The sophomore ranked fifth in the field and first on the team with nine birdies for the day. Maichon posted rounds of 72 and 71. The Bangkok, Thailand, native ranked fifth overall and first on the Aggies’ in par 3 scoring with a 2.88 average.
Jaime Montojo finished the day tied for 34th at 4-over 144, including a 1-over 71 in the afternoon loop at the par-70, 7,289-yard course.
After recording the first non-counting score of his career, Wheaton Ennis rebounded to marshal Ol’ Sarge’s charges in the second round with an even 70. He heads into the final round tied for 39th at 5-over 145. Michael Heidelbaugh rounded out the fivesome at 6-over 146 with rounds of 71 and 75, putting him in a tie for 47th place.
In the individual standings, North Carolina’s David Ford and Texas’ Daniel Bennett are atop the standings at 6-under 134.
Texas A&M starts Tuesday’s action with tee times beginning at 8 a.m. The Maroon & White are paired with Stanford and Georgia Tech for the final round.
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TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach Brian Kortan
On the 36-hole effort…
“We’re 36 holes in and the guys fought their tails off. We still have to take care of the golf ball better when we’re playing championship golf courses. Which is why we’re playing them. It shows you who you are, and you can’t hide out there. It shows you your strengths and your weaknesses. And our strength is clearly that we have a group of guys who will fight their tails off to the end. And some of the things we need to work on is getting more efficient around the greens and putting a little better. We can all do that a little better. In general, just tightening things up… a little tighter ship and we’ll be in good shape.”
On some of the individual efforts…
“Aaron (Pounds) has been trending to play some really good golf. He’s been playing great at home. We feel like it’s going to translate at tournaments and we saw some of that today. It was nice to see him put two rounds together – it could’ve even been a little better this afternoon. Wheaton (Ennis) gave us a really good one this afternoon after a bit of a stumble in the morning. P (Phichaksn Maichon) was really close to shooting a really good score. This isn’t as good as we can be, but once again it’s a step in the right direction. That’s what you want to do in the fall – continue to make steps in the right direction.”
TEAM STANDINGS
1 |
Oklahoma |
-9 |
276-275=551 |
2 |
Texas |
-7 |
280-273=553 |
3 |
Auburn |
-4 |
282-274=556 |
4 |
North Carolina |
-2 |
284-274=558 |
t-5 |
Arizona State |
+8 |
281-287=568 |
t-5 |
Georgia |
+8 |
284-284=568 |
7 |
Texas A&M |
+11 |
286-285=571 |
8 |
Stanford |
+14 |
292-282=574 |
9 |
Georgia Tech |
+15 |
283-292=575 |
t-10 |
Alabama |
+18 |
290-288=578 |
t-10 |
Vanderbilt |
+18 |
294-284=578 |
12 |
Oregon |
+19 |
285-294=579 |
13 |
Texas Tech |
+20 |
294-286=580 |
14 |
Wake Forest |
+22 |
296-286=582 |
15 |
TCU |
+31 |
295-296=501 |
TEXAS A&M SCORES
t-24 |
Phichaksn Maichon |
+3 |
72-71=143 |
t-24 |
Aaron Pounds |
+3 |
70-73=143 |
t-34 |
Jaime Montojo |
+4 |
73-71=144 |
t-39 |
Wheaton Ennis |
+5 |
75-70=145 |
t-47 |
Michael Heidelbaugh |
+6 |
71-75=146 |