Texas A&M
Royal Oaks Intercollegiate
Aggies Win Royal Oaks Intercollegiate
Nov 01, 2011 | Men's Golf
The Aggies shot 22-under for the week (278-273-279=830) to set a tournament record and hold off a hard-charging Duke team (282-276-273=831) by one stroke. In doing so, A&M claimed its third Royal Oaks title in the event's four-year history.
"We feel like we've been playing really well all fall and things just weren't going our way, so to get a win feels good," head coach J.T. Higgins said. "It was nice to see everything come together. All five guys played pretty well, and to place four in the top 13 is really impressive. But at the same time that's not real surprising to me, because I think we're capable of doing that more often than not."
The Aggies (-22) and Blue Devils (-21) were by far the class of the field, as third-place Oklahoma finished 15 shots back of the leaders at 7-under. Two-time defending national champion Augusta State (-4) placed fourth, followed by New Mexico (E), Baylor (+1), Houston (+10), Lamar (+10), Iowa (+11), Tulsa (+11), Notre Dame (+13), SMU (+17), Missouri (+21) and Army (+66).
Individually, junior All-American Cameron Peck closed with a final-round 66 and finished in a tie for second at 8-under (70-69-66=205). Joining Peck as runner-up was senior All-American Jordan Russell (66-67-72=205). The Aggie duo finished three shots back of medalist MJ Daffue of Lamar.
"Today's round starts with Cameron," Higgins said. "He was firing on all cylinders, just dead aim at the flag over and over again. He was able to make birdies and that was pretty impressive to watch. That was as good a ball-striking round as I've seen in a long time."
Sophomore Johannes Veerman continued his strong play, shooting below par every round to finish ninth with a 4-under 209 (70-69-70). Veerman has now carded sub-par rounds eight times in nine chances. Redshirt freshman Greg Yates turned in a 2-under 211 (72-68-71) and placed 13th, while senior Geoff Shaw finished 50th with a 6-over 219 (74-73-72). Sophomore Jade Scott, playing as an individual, carded a 10-over 223 (72-79-72).
"Overall, I'd say we kind of struggled off the tee a little bit, but we were still able to put together some birdies and have a good round," Higgins said. "The team did a really good job of not trying to force things out of difficult situations. We stayed patient and were able to come out with a win."
The Aggies will return home before making yet another quick turnaround, closing out the fall season on Monday and Tuesday at the Amelia National Intercollegiate outside Jacksonville, Fla. The tournament was a late addition to A&M's slate after getting rained out at the Husky Invitational back in September.
"We're playing well," Higgins said. "We'll give them a couple of days off to get caught up on school work and to work on some mechanical things, but we'll get ready to go on Saturday. We have one more tournament left and we want to close out the fall on a good note."
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Players Mentioned
