ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Rookie Chandler Phillips sits just two shots off the lead with the Texas A&M men's golf team in contention owning sixth place after the opening 18 holes of the 2016 SEC Championship at Sea Island Golf Club.
Â
"We're off to a pretty good start," Texas A&M head coach J.T. Higgins said. "We've got some ground to make up on the leaders but we're in the hunt. If we can cut into that lead a little bit tomorrow we'll go into Sunday with a shot at a championship."
Â
Georgia and Kentucky share the top spot in the team standings after one round with Florida (+5), Vanderbilt (+6) and Tennessee (+6) rounding out the top five positions on the leaderboard. The Bulldogs and the Wildcats — ranked fourth and 32nd, respectively, in the latest GolfStat poll — each fired a 3-under 277 on the par-70, 7,005-yard layout Seaside Course.
Â
Texas A&M (287, +7), meanwhile, stands just 10 shots off the leaders.
Â
Vanderbilt's Matthias Schwab navigated the course with a 4-under 66 Friday to snare the individual lead. Six players, including A&M's Phillips (68, -2) are in pursuit of Schwab after carding rounds of 68. Phillips, a native of Huntsville, Texas, opened the round with birdies on No. 4 and No. 8 to made the turn at two-under before finishing his final nine holes at even par.
Â
Aggie sophomore Cameron Champ (72, +2) owns a share of 22nd place on the 70-player leaderboard with senior Ben Crancer (73, +3) a shot back in a tie for 31st.
Â
"Obviously, Chandler played a great round of golf and Cameron was solid again today," Higgins added. "The younger guys are playing really well."
Â
Seniors Andrew Lister (74, +4) Adria Arnaus (75, +5) concluded their opening round in ties for 38th and 47th place, respectively.
Â
"I was especially proud of the seniors for battling back." Higgins said. "They were struggling early on the front nine before they made some birdies coming in to make the round respectable."
Â
The second round of the 54-hole tournament will get underway Saturday morning with Texas A&M's contingency paired alongside golfers from Tennessee and Vanderbilt and beginning their round at 8:20 a.m. (ET).
Â
"The course was pretty tough today," Higgins commented. "The wind was consistently around 20 miles per hour with some gusts, but we got lucky and dodged the rain. The wind played havoc with some shots and made it tough to putt too. Overall, I thought we handled the conditions pretty well."
Â
Live results can be found at GolfStat.com and SECSports.com while additional updates are available on twitter via @AggieMensGolf.
Â
"We're off to a pretty good start," Texas A&M head coach J.T. Higgins said. "We've got some ground to make up on the leaders but we're in the hunt. If we can cut into that lead a little bit tomorrow we'll go into Sunday with a shot at a championship."
Â
Georgia and Kentucky share the top spot in the team standings after one round with Florida (+5), Vanderbilt (+6) and Tennessee (+6) rounding out the top five positions on the leaderboard. The Bulldogs and the Wildcats — ranked fourth and 32nd, respectively, in the latest GolfStat poll — each fired a 3-under 277 on the par-70, 7,005-yard layout Seaside Course.
Â
Texas A&M (287, +7), meanwhile, stands just 10 shots off the leaders.
Â
Vanderbilt's Matthias Schwab navigated the course with a 4-under 66 Friday to snare the individual lead. Six players, including A&M's Phillips (68, -2) are in pursuit of Schwab after carding rounds of 68. Phillips, a native of Huntsville, Texas, opened the round with birdies on No. 4 and No. 8 to made the turn at two-under before finishing his final nine holes at even par.
Â
Aggie sophomore Cameron Champ (72, +2) owns a share of 22nd place on the 70-player leaderboard with senior Ben Crancer (73, +3) a shot back in a tie for 31st.
Â
"Obviously, Chandler played a great round of golf and Cameron was solid again today," Higgins added. "The younger guys are playing really well."
Â
Seniors Andrew Lister (74, +4) Adria Arnaus (75, +5) concluded their opening round in ties for 38th and 47th place, respectively.
Â
"I was especially proud of the seniors for battling back." Higgins said. "They were struggling early on the front nine before they made some birdies coming in to make the round respectable."
Â
The second round of the 54-hole tournament will get underway Saturday morning with Texas A&M's contingency paired alongside golfers from Tennessee and Vanderbilt and beginning their round at 8:20 a.m. (ET).
Â
"The course was pretty tough today," Higgins commented. "The wind was consistently around 20 miles per hour with some gusts, but we got lucky and dodged the rain. The wind played havoc with some shots and made it tough to putt too. Overall, I thought we handled the conditions pretty well."
Â
Live results can be found at GolfStat.com and SECSports.com while additional updates are available on twitter via @AggieMensGolf.