COLLEGE STATION, TX — The Texas A&M men's golf team is set for SEC Championships, played at the Sea Island Golf Club (par 70/7,005 yards) in St. Simons Island, Georgia. The Championships will begin with three rounds of stroke play, with a round per day starting on Wednesday, April 24 at 6:30 a.m. CT. The top eight teams will advance to quarterfinal match play on Saturday, April 27 at 6:30 a.m. CT, followed by the semifinals later that day at 11:30 a.m. CT. The championship match will be played on Sunday, April 28 with a tee time of 6:30 a.m. CT and will air live on SEC Network.
"It's great to be back at Sea Island. We have put in some great work the last few weeks and we are really excited to tee it up to see if we can bring home our first SEC Championship," said head coach J.T. Higgins. "This is our favorite time of year and what the guys have worked so hard for; now it's time to put it all together."
The Aggies aim to improve on their seventh-place finish from a year ago, after they advanced to quarterfinal match play but fell to LSU. Chandler Phillips tied for 10th individually at the Championships, en-route to First Team All-America honors a season ago. A&M has finished as high as second in the SEC, doing so at both the 2016 and 2017 league championships.
The Aggies are ready to get back on the course, having not competed since March 17-19 at the Valspar Collegiate Invitational in Florida, due to weather cancelling the annual Aggie Invitational earlier this month.
Phillips is looking for a strong finish to his decorated SEC career. The senior has earned all-conference honors in each of his three previous seasons, being named to the league's first team in each of the last two years. He is the first American to be selected to play in the Palmer Cup three times and is the winningest player in A&M history with seven career tournament victories.
Junior Brandon Smith, who finished second in the NCAA Bryan Regional and earned All-America Honorable Mention accolades last season, will play in his third SEC Championships this week, as will classmate Dan Erickson. Erickson helped the Aggies advance out of the Bryan Regional last season and helped lead the way for the Aggies at the Querencia Cabo Collegiate this year.
Sophomore Walker Lee will make his second appearance at SEC Championships, while freshman Sam Bennett will round out the Aggies in action this week. Lee has continued to shine for the Aggies in his second season, most notably earning a second-place finish at the Burns Intercollegiate to help A&M finish second at the Hawaiian tournament. Bennett has been among the top two Aggies in a number of tournaments throughout his debut season. He was recently named the team's Newcomer of the Year, while also earning a pair of the team's statistical awards.
Live results throughout the Championships can be found here [results.golfstat.com]. For more details about the tournament, click here [secsports.com].
