ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — Junior Greg Yates notched his fourth top-five finish of the season Sunday as the Texas A&M men’s golf team ended play at the SEC Championship in a tie for ninth place.
As a team, the Aggies (288-286-275=849, +9) turned in their lowest round of the tournament at five-under par on Sunday while top-ranked Alabama (272-266-268=806, 34) claimed the SEC Championship for the third straight year with a 16-stroke victory over second-place LSU (284-275-263=822, -18).
“Today looked 100 percent better; we were more focused, more aggressive and more determined than we were the other two days,” Texas A&M head coach J.T. Higgins said. “I like seeing that but we’re going to have be a lot more consistent in our approach and our attitude going forward.”
Yates (72-67-66=205, -5) fired a bogey-free round of 66 on his final run through the Seaside Course at Sea Island Golf Club to earn a share of fifth place on the individual leaderboard. A day after carding a tournament-record 61, Alabama’s Bobby Wyatt (65-61-66=192, -18) also carded a final-round 66 to claim individual medalist honors.
“Greg had another great round today,” Higgins added. “He was in play all day and gave himself a lot of looks at birdies without any bogeys. He’s playing really well and now we’ve got to get some of the other guys playing at that level and we’ll be fine.”
Sophomore Ben Crancer (70-71-70=211, +1) was the next highest-ranking Aggie on the leaderboard, finishing in a tie for 26th after shooting even par. Sophomore Adrià Arnaus(74-74-69=217, +7) carded a one-under par round of 69 on Sunday to end play with a share of 43rd place alongside teammate Johannes Veerman (72-74-71=217, +7).
Andrew Lister (81-74-70=225, +15) turned in his lowest scorecard of the tournament during the third round, shooting an even-par 70 to finish in a tie for 64th.
The Aggies will now turn their attention to upcoming NCAA regionals, with pairings and competition sites announced live on May 5 from 10-11 a.m. during Morning Drive, Golf Channel’s daily morning news and lifestyle show.
“Today was a step in the right direction, but we still didn’t make many putts, even though we had a lot more opportunities,” Higgins said. “We’ll build on that heading into regionals.”