VESTAVIA HILLS, Ala. – Texas A&M sophomore Vishnu Sadagopan tallied a hard-fought 1-up victory over Auburn’s Brendon Valdes to clinch the No. 17 Aggies 3-2 match play win over No. 13 Auburn at the SEC Match Play Preview on Tuesday at the Old Overton Club.
After losing the first hole, Sadagopan, from Pearland, Texas, tied the match with a par on the 10th hole and then took a lead he wouldn’t relinquish with another par on the 13th hole. The Aggies also received victories from true freshman Jaime Montojo and junior Daniel Rodrigues. Montojo was down two holes early in the match but rallied for a dominant 5&4 win over Ryan Eshleman, while Rodrigues never trailed on his way to a 3&2 conquest over Carson Bacha.
“Whenever you have to close out a match like this against good players, it’s a good experience for your team,” head coach Brian Kortan said. “The guys did a tremendous job of sticking their plan and competing. Dani was never down all day and Vish fought back after being down early. Jaime was down two after three holes but then just took off and smoked him. It was good to have a match like this where the guys can get some match play experience, and to beat a really high-quality team like Auburn is a great way to end the week.”
In the other matches, fifth-year senior Sam Bennett fell 7&6 to Evan Vo and sophomore Phichaksn Maichon lost 3&2 to J.M. Butler.
Story by Brad Marquardt, Assistant AD/Athletics Communications