News release from Texas A&M Athletics:
OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. – The No. 19 Texas A&M men’s golf team moved up five spots on day two and finish tied for sixth place at the Olympia Fields Country Club/Fighting Illini Invitational.
Freshman Wheaton Ennis led the charge with 2-under 68s in both of Saturday’s rounds at the par-70, 7,353-yard Olympia Fields North Course. He finished in 11th place at 2-under 208 in his second collegiate tournament.
The Aggies’ Saturday effort propelled them past No. 5-ranked Illinois, No. 9 Florida, No. 10 Florida State and Northwestern on the leaderboard. The Maroon & White finished tied with No. 22 Stanford for sixth place. No. 17 Georgia Tech (-12) topped No. 2 Arizona State by one stroke to win the tournament.
Although the Aggies did not take the course on Sunday, the results were not official until three golfers, one each from Arizona State, Florida and Georgia Tech completed their final two holes Sunday morning. With inclement weather headed for Chicagoland on Sunday, the adjustment was made to play the final two rounds Saturday. Play was suspended at 6:56 p.m. Saturday with all but the aforementioned trio completing their rounds.
Texas A&M’s Michael Heidelbaugh shot a 2-under 68 in the second round followed by a 71 in the afternoon circuit to finish tied for 22nd along with teammate Phichaksn Maichon and four others.
Jaime Montojo and Aaron Pounds rounded the fivesome at 9-over 219 and 12-over 222, respectively.
Arizona State’s Jose Luis Ballester won the tournament at 10-under 200 followed by Georgia Tech’s Benjamin Reuter at 8-under 202.
Texas A&M returns to action Monday, September 30 when the Aggies travel to revered Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth for the Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational.
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TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach Brian Kortan
On the effort Saturday…
“The guys gave great effort today. P (Phichaksn Maichon) and Jaime (Montojo) fought all day. They didn’t have their best stuff this week. It’s tough to play a championship golf course like Olympia Fields and not really have your best stuff. But they fought and grinded it out really well. Michael (Heidelbaugh) played quite well and had a chance to shoot a couple really good scores and really helped us that second round.”
On Wheaton Ennis’ play…
“Wheaton got his feet wet a couple weeks ago at Sahalee and today he was pretty comfortable on the golf course. He took care of the ball really well and he didn’t give in. He just kept making some hard pars and had his chances to make some birdies. So a really good finish for him.
On the improvement from the season opening tournament…
“As a team this was a step in the right direction. We’re far from a finished product, but the improvement we saw this week compared to where we were at Sahalee a couple weeks ago, it was nice to see. I’m so proud of the guys for their fight. Now we get back home for a pretty quick week and head up to Colonial (Country Club) for another test against some of the best teams in the country.
TEAM STANDINGS
|
1 |
Georgia Tech |
-12 |
279-277-272=828 |
|
2 |
Arizona State |
-11 |
273-276-280=829 |
|
t-3 |
North Carolina |
-1 |
279-277-283=839 |
|
t-3 |
Oklahoma State |
-1 |
284-277-278=839 |
|
5 |
Texas |
+3 |
281-283-279=843 |
|
t-6 |
Texas A&M |
+8 |
286-279-283=848 |
|
t-6 |
Stanford |
+8 |
280-285-283=848 |
|
8 |
Illinois |
+9 |
280-286-283=849 |
|
t-9 |
Florida |
+10 |
279-287-284=850 |
|
t-9 |
Florida State |
+10 |
280-289-281=850 |
|
t-9 |
Texas Tech |
+10 |
287-286-277=850 |
|
12 |
Alabama |
+16 |
291-286-279=856 |
|
13 |
Northwestern |
+18 |
283-285-290=858 |
|
14 |
Baylor |
+37 |
295-289-293=877 |
|
15 |
Michigan |
+38 |
300-290-288=878 |
TEXAS A&M SCORES
|
t-11 |
Wheaton Ennis |
-2 |
72-68-68=208 |
|
t-22 |
Michael Heidelbaugh |
+2 |
73-68-71=212 |
|
t-22 |
Phichaksn Maichon |
+2 |
69-71-72=212 |
|
t-55 |
Jaime Montojo |
+9 |
72-75-72=219 |
|
t-65 |
Aaron Pounds |
+12 |
76-72-74=222 |
– aTm –