Texas A&M junior Nacho Elvira's continued strong play kept him at the top of the individual leaderboard and helped keep the top-seeded Aggies ahead of the field at the NCAA South Central Regional on Friday at the Traditions Club Golf Course.
The Aggies will be seeking their first NCAA Regional team title since 1996 and a return trip to the NCAA Championships when they tee it up on Saturday at 8:40 a.m. The top five teams at the Regional receive invitations to the NCAA final site. A&M will tee off from the first hole and will be paired with Texas Tech and TCU.
“(Winning) is no more important than finishing fifth, but to us, we're going to prepare the same way that we do for every tournament,” Aggie coach J.T. Higgins said. “We're going to go out and try to have the best final round. We're going to try to stick to our game plan and do things the way we have the whole year because that the best way to prepare for the NCAA Championships next week. The end game is to try to win a national championship, and we can't afford to count anything above a 74 and expect to qualify for match play.”
Elvira, from Santander, Spain, shot a solid two-under par 70 to remain in a tie for the individual lead with Wichita State's Dustin Garza. Elvira will be seeking his second career victory at A&M on Saturday. For the tournament, Elvira is 8-under par with rounds of 66-70=136.
“Nacho is playing fantastic, and it's not a surprise,” Higgins said. “He's looked great all year and he's had plenty of great rounds in good tournaments, so it's nice for him to put it all together.”
Elvira said winning the individual title would be nice, but his first priority is helping the Aggies gain a spot in the NCAA Championships.
“An individual win is always great, but as a team we're more focused on making it to nationals,” Elvira said. “We want to get past this and win again at nationals like we did last year. We said, 'first things first. Get this over with and get to nationals.'”
Senior Andrea Pavan had the Aggies' low round of the day with a 3-under par 69 and is in seventh place at 5-under. Freshman Cameron Peck shot an even-par 72 and is tied for 16th at 1-under. Sophomore Jordan Russell shot a 77 and is tied for 28th at 3-over. Junior John Hurley posted a 77 and is tied for 39th at 5-over.
The team standings were Texas A&M, Texas Tech (-10), TCU (-8), Wichita State (-3), Pepperdine (-2), North Florida (+2), Auburn (+2), Tulsa (+4), Baylor (+4), Rice (+7), Georgia (+9), Georgetown (+26), North Carolina (+36) and Jackson State (+97).
Aggie head golf coach J.T. Higgins:
“We're obviously very happy about where we're at because the idea is to qualify (for the NCAA Championships), but at the same time we're trying to win a golf tournament. I'm a little disappointed that we had to count a 77 – right now – but I'll get over it. Otherwise, it was a good day. On our home course we shouldn't have to count that high of a score. We had a chance to separate ourselves from second place, but we're a good final round team and we'll go have a great round (on Saturday). “
(On importance of winning the regional vs. qualifying as one of the top five teams) “(Winning) is no more important than finishing fifth, but to us, we're going to prepare the same way that we do for every tournament. We're going to go out and try to have the best final round. We're going to try to stick to our game plan and do things the way we have the whole year because that the best way to prepare for the NCAA Championships next week. The end game is to try to win a national championship, and we can't afford to count anything above a 74 and expect to qualify for match play. If you want to qualify for match play, you've got to come ready to play every day.”
(What do you attribute today's struggles to?) “I think you have to give the course a little credit today. It was set up a little tougher, there was some wind, the greens were firmer and faster. It was what we're used to seeing here, but that we haven't seen the last four competitive rounds. Today was much more Traditions-like.”
(On Nacho Elvira's play) “Nacho is playing fantastic, and it's not a surprise. He's looked great all year and he's had plenty of great rounds in good tournaments, so it's nice for him to put it all together.
Texas A&M junior Ignacio “Nacho” Elvira:
(On his second round) “I started pretty good. I was three-under through six and feeling pretty solid about my game. I was hitting the ball pretty solid, I would say more solid than yesterday. I hit more greens today than yesterday, but I think I putted a little worse. I hit really good putts but I couldn't make them.
“I made a stupid bogey on six because I tried to lay up and I laid up in the fairway bunker, which is always a tough shot.”
(On challenging for the individual title) “An individual win is always great, but as a team we're more focused on making it to nationals. We want to get past this and win again at nationals like we did last year. We said 'first things first. Get this over with and get to nationals.'
(On taking team lead into final day) “It's great being in the lead going into the last 18 holes, but we shouldn't change any game plan that we had in the past. We're not going to be more relaxed or more tense. We just want to keep playing like we've been playing so far and it's been working out good for us.”