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A&M golf finishes 6th at Valspar Collegiate Invitational

Posted at 5:19 PM, Mar 19, 2019
and last updated 2019-03-19 18:19:39-04

PALM CITY, FL — The Texas A&M men's golf team notched a sixth-place finish at theValspar Collegiate Invitational, played at the Floridian National Golf Club (par 71/7,114 yards). The Aggies finished 6-under 846 after playing well in the second round and getting out to a strong start in the third. Plagued by inclement weather from the beginning, the tournament was forced to change the format, seeing teams play 18 holes on the first day, and 36 on the second. Two teams were unable to finish the third round due to darkness, and play wrapped up early Tuesday morning.

"It was nice to be in the hunt again. We didn't come close to winning, but through seven holes in the final round we were within five-or-six shots of the lead, the guys were playing great," said head coach J.T. Higgins. "After that, we had some big numbers and didn't play very well on the back. The weather got tough and the wind was blowing pretty hard, so it became really difficult to make birdies.

"Overall this week we saw a lot of good things from the guys, we were competitive and showed we can play with anybody. We beat some really good teams in this national championship caliber field and we walked out of there feeling pretty good about ourselves. Ultimately, our goal is to get to the top of that leaderboard, but this was a good first step and it was a good chance to get ready for the Aggie Invitational and our post season."

A strong performance in the first round helped position senior Chandler Phillips to lead the Aggies individually with a third-place finish. He shot 12-under (66-68-67=201) in the tournament with seven birdies in the final round of play. Freshman Sam Bennett (71-68-73=212) and sophomore Walker Lee (73-65-74=212) tied for 26th, both shooting 1-under.

A&M will have two weeks off before returning to the course to host the Aggie Invitational on April 6 and 7 at Traditions Club. This will be the team's last event before beginning post season play.