Credit to Thomas Dugger Dick | Assistant Communications Director – 12thman.com
MOUNTAIN BROOK, Alabama – Paced by junior Phichaksn Maichon’s fourth-place effort, the No. 17 Texas A&M men’s golf team posted a 1-under 283 in Tuesday’s action at the SEC Match Play hosted by Jerry Pate to complete the stroke play portion in sixth place.
Auburn was the top team in stroke play with a three-round tally of 41-under 811 to best Vanderbilt (-28) by 13 strokes. Arkansas (-25), Ole Miss (-24) and Tennessee (-23) rounded out the top five.
Maichon was one of just three golfers at the tournament to log less than two holes over par with his one bogey in 54 holes, joined by Tennessee’s Caleb Surratt and Kentucky’s Alex Goff. He finished the tournament tied with Auburn’s JM Butler for fourth place at 11-under 202 with his three sub-70 rounds (65-68-69).
Freshman Aaron Pounds registered a top 20 finish in his collegiate debut. He parred 16 holes to finish Tuesday’s round even 71 after stacking two 69s in Monday’s action.
After a sluggish start, Jaime Montojo birdied three of his last six holes to finish even 71. He tied for 25th place at 3-under 210. Michael Heidelbaugh (t-34; E) and Vishnu Sadagopan (t-47; +3) rounded out the Aggie fivesome.
In tomorrow’s match play round, the Aggies square off against fifth-place Tennessee. The teams start teeing off from hole No. 1 at 8:10 a.m.
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TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach Brian Kortan
On Tuesday’s round…
“We never really got any momentum going today. The golf course was set up pretty difficult. The hole locations were a lot more difficult today. We didn’t get any momentum and as you can tell we didn’t get many birdies. The guys hung in there and stayed disciplined which is what you have to do on a day like that so you can live to fight another day, but unfortunately, we’re only at a three-round tournament. The guys did a lot of good stuff this week. This tournament field is as tough as it gets no matter where you go. We always want to contend for titles. Through round one and a good part of round two we were right there with them. We’ll keep getting better.”
On Phichaksn Maichon’s performance…
“It was a great three rounds for P. It was another great finish for him. He’s just stacking those finishes together. He’s playing a lot of quality golf. He works his tail off, so he earns it. There’s no question about it.”
On the rest of the squad…
“Jaime (Montojo) didn’t have his best stuff this week, but he stayed disciplined and had a good tournament. Aaron (Pounds) for his first tournament out did everything you could ask of him to do as far as playing the way we want him to play. It was a good week for those guys. We got a little bit out of Mike (Michael Heidelbaugh) and Vish (Vishnu Sadagopan) so it was a good 54 holes. We’re looking forward to our match tomorrow against Tennessee. We’ll get some good match experience against a really good team.”
On what he’s looking to get out of tomorrow’s match play…
“In match play, they have to learn a little bit about how to play. We won’t overcoach them tomorrow. It will be a little bit more of them learning about how to do it. It’ll be about them getting experience and getting comfortable in those situations. We’ll be there to guide them a little bit and watch how they go through their day.”
TEAM SCORES
|
1 |
Auburn |
274-264-273=811 |
-41 |
|
|
2 |
Vanderbilt |
276-269-279=824 |
-28 |
|
|
3 |
Arkansas |
272-268-287=827 |
-25 |
|
|
4 |
Ole Miss |
276-272-280=828 |
-24 |
|
|
5 |
Tennessee |
278-272-279=829 |
-23 |
|
|
6 |
Texas A&M |
270-278-283=831 |
-21 |
|
|
7 |
Florida |
285-272-279=836 |
-16 |
|
|
8 |
Alabama |
284-279-280=843 |
-9 |
|
|
9 |
Mississippi State |
275-282-292=849 |
-3 |
|
|
10 |
LSU |
280-282-288=850 |
-2 |
|
|
11 |
Georgia |
280-286-286=852 |
-E |
|
|
12 |
Missouri |
286-282-286=854 |
+2 |
|
|
13 |
Kentucky |
282-286-292=860 |
+8 |
|
|
14 |
South Carolina |
291-285-286=862 |
+10 |
|
TEXAS A&M SCORES
|
t-4 |
Phichaksn Maichon |
65-68-69=202 |
-11 |
|
|
t-20 |
Aaron Pounds |
69-69-71=209 |
-4 |
|
|
t-25 |
Jaime Montojo |
69-70-71=210 |
-3 |
|
|
t-34 |
Michael Heidelbaugh |
67-74-72=213 |
E |
|
|
t-47 |
Vishnu Sadagopan |
72-71-73=216 |
+3 |
|