Friday, April 21
St. Simons Island, Ga.
All Day
Texas A&M
at
SEC Championship (Stroke Play)
Aggies Advance to Match Play at SEC Championship
Apr 22, 2017 | Men's Golf
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – The Aggies advanced to the match-play portion of the 2017 SEC Men's Golf Championship on Saturday afternoon by carding a round of even par during blustery conditions at Sea Island Golf Club, completing the 54 holes of stroke play in second place.
"The guys did a great job today in tough conditions," Texas A&M head coach J.T. Higgins said. "Shooting even par with the breeze out here is not that easy to do, so I was really impressed with that."
Following Saturday's third and final round of stroke play, the 14-team leaderboard was trimmed to just eight schools that will advance to match play. Two rounds of match play are slated for Sunday before the field is whittled down to just two schools that will via for the 2017 SEC Championship head-to-head on Monday morning.
Vanderbilt (-11) overtook Texas A&M (273-282-280=835, -5) atop the team standings on Saturday as those two schools are joined by LSU (-3), Florida (-2), South Carolina (+9), Alabama (+11), Missouri (+12) and Ole Miss (+12) in advancing beyond stroke play. The Aggies will be paired against Missouri in the opening round of match play.
"We are in great position with the No. 2 seed," Higgins added. "That's what we came here for, to reach match play and give ourselves a chance to win this thing."
The Aggies were again led by the dynamic duo of sophomore Chandler Phillips and junior Cameron Champ who finished near the top of the player standings in ties for third and fifth place, respectively.
For Phillips (67-70-67=204, -6), the performance was his team-leading sixth top-five showing of the season as the Huntsville, Texas, native continues to close in on the school record for scoring average. Phillips now owns a 70.76 stroke average in 34 rounds this season with the current record held by Jordan Russell (71.60 during the 2010-11 campaign).
Champ (66-71-68=205, -5), meanwhile, notched his fifth top-five showing of the season while posting the seventh below-par scorecard during his last eight rounds and lowering his season scoring average to 71.39.
Redshirt freshman Brandon Smith (70-68-75=213, +3) finished in a tie for 23rd while junior Andrew Paysse (70-73-73=216, +6) claimed a share of 36th.
Rookie Dan Erickson (73-74-72=219, +9) enjoyed his best round at the SEC Championship with a two-over 72 that counted for the team total on Saturday.
"It was a nice team effort," Higgins commented. "Dan and Andrew really kept it together today to give us a chance. Cameron and Chandler did what they do. I wouldn't trade those two guys for any golfers in the country. I think we have the best 1-2 combination in college golf and they played like it this week."
Vanderbilt's Patrick Martin and Florida's Alejandro Tosti finished atop the player leaderboard at 10-under par forcing a playoff between the two golfers to determine the SEC Individual Champion. After each player recorded par on the opening sudden death playoff hole, a bogey by Martin opened the door for Tosti to claim the title with a par on No. 2.
The SEC Championship resumes with the match play portion of the tournament Sunday morning. Results and live scoring can be found at GolfStat.com.
"The guys did a great job today in tough conditions," Texas A&M head coach J.T. Higgins said. "Shooting even par with the breeze out here is not that easy to do, so I was really impressed with that."
Following Saturday's third and final round of stroke play, the 14-team leaderboard was trimmed to just eight schools that will advance to match play. Two rounds of match play are slated for Sunday before the field is whittled down to just two schools that will via for the 2017 SEC Championship head-to-head on Monday morning.
Vanderbilt (-11) overtook Texas A&M (273-282-280=835, -5) atop the team standings on Saturday as those two schools are joined by LSU (-3), Florida (-2), South Carolina (+9), Alabama (+11), Missouri (+12) and Ole Miss (+12) in advancing beyond stroke play. The Aggies will be paired against Missouri in the opening round of match play.
"We are in great position with the No. 2 seed," Higgins added. "That's what we came here for, to reach match play and give ourselves a chance to win this thing."
The Aggies were again led by the dynamic duo of sophomore Chandler Phillips and junior Cameron Champ who finished near the top of the player standings in ties for third and fifth place, respectively.
For Phillips (67-70-67=204, -6), the performance was his team-leading sixth top-five showing of the season as the Huntsville, Texas, native continues to close in on the school record for scoring average. Phillips now owns a 70.76 stroke average in 34 rounds this season with the current record held by Jordan Russell (71.60 during the 2010-11 campaign).
Champ (66-71-68=205, -5), meanwhile, notched his fifth top-five showing of the season while posting the seventh below-par scorecard during his last eight rounds and lowering his season scoring average to 71.39.
Redshirt freshman Brandon Smith (70-68-75=213, +3) finished in a tie for 23rd while junior Andrew Paysse (70-73-73=216, +6) claimed a share of 36th.
Rookie Dan Erickson (73-74-72=219, +9) enjoyed his best round at the SEC Championship with a two-over 72 that counted for the team total on Saturday.
"It was a nice team effort," Higgins commented. "Dan and Andrew really kept it together today to give us a chance. Cameron and Chandler did what they do. I wouldn't trade those two guys for any golfers in the country. I think we have the best 1-2 combination in college golf and they played like it this week."
Vanderbilt's Patrick Martin and Florida's Alejandro Tosti finished atop the player leaderboard at 10-under par forcing a playoff between the two golfers to determine the SEC Individual Champion. After each player recorded par on the opening sudden death playoff hole, a bogey by Martin opened the door for Tosti to claim the title with a par on No. 2.
The SEC Championship resumes with the match play portion of the tournament Sunday morning. Results and live scoring can be found at GolfStat.com.
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