STILLWATER, Okla. – No. 2 Texas A&M climbed five spots on the leaderboard at the NCAA DI Men's Golf Championship on Saturday, holding 12th place after 36 holes of competition at Karsten Creek Golf Club.
"Today was a little bit of a roller coaster ride for us," Texas A&M head coach J.T. Higgins said. "We didn't quite finish up round one the way we wanted to, but then got off to a great start in round two. Got all the way back to even par and were looking great then we had a couple big numbers and some three putts in the middle of the round that derailed us a little. We were able to finish it up with some birdies coming down the line at 17 and 18 to right the ship."
The Aggies (293-289=582, +6) will need to stay in the top 15 of the team standings if they want to continue playing at the NCAA Championship. At the conclusion of Sunday's round, the field will trimmed to 15 schools who will compete in a final 18 holes of stroke play to determine the individual national champion and the eight teams advancing to match play.
Texas Tech (-5) leads a tightly-packed leaderboard that features Oklahoma State (-4), Alabama (-3), Duke (+2) and Oklahoma (+2) in the top-five. Just four strokes separate the Aggies from fourth place in the team standings.
"We're in great position," Higgins added. "I know 12th place may look like things aren't going well but if you look at how bunched up the leaderboard is, we're just a few shots out of the top five."
Sophomore Brandon Smith (74-70=144, E) highlighted the Aggies individually on Saturday, firing a two-under par 70 that featured three birdies and 14 pars and propelled him up the player leaderboard into 28th.
Senior Andrew Paysse (71-74=145, +1) holds a share of 37th while Walker Lee (74-72=146, +2) and Dan Erickson (74-73=147, +3) check in at 46th and 59th, respectively.
Junior All-American Chandler Phillips (75-77=152, +8) is still looking to find a rhythm at the championship, finishing the day in a tie for 121st.
"Dan, Brandon and Walker did a tremendous job today," said Higgins. "Chandler has struggled the last couple days but I think he'll be ready to go tomorrow. If he gives us his normal round, we'll be in great position heading into the final round of stroke play on Monday. Our goal is to qualify for match play and we're in good position to do that."
The Aggies will return to the course Sunday morning at 8:17 a.m. when they will be paired alongside Auburn and Texas. Live scoring and results can be found on golfstat.com and as well as live updates via twitter at @AggieMensGolf.
"Today was a little bit of a roller coaster ride for us," Texas A&M head coach J.T. Higgins said. "We didn't quite finish up round one the way we wanted to, but then got off to a great start in round two. Got all the way back to even par and were looking great then we had a couple big numbers and some three putts in the middle of the round that derailed us a little. We were able to finish it up with some birdies coming down the line at 17 and 18 to right the ship."
The Aggies (293-289=582, +6) will need to stay in the top 15 of the team standings if they want to continue playing at the NCAA Championship. At the conclusion of Sunday's round, the field will trimmed to 15 schools who will compete in a final 18 holes of stroke play to determine the individual national champion and the eight teams advancing to match play.
Texas Tech (-5) leads a tightly-packed leaderboard that features Oklahoma State (-4), Alabama (-3), Duke (+2) and Oklahoma (+2) in the top-five. Just four strokes separate the Aggies from fourth place in the team standings.
"We're in great position," Higgins added. "I know 12th place may look like things aren't going well but if you look at how bunched up the leaderboard is, we're just a few shots out of the top five."
Sophomore Brandon Smith (74-70=144, E) highlighted the Aggies individually on Saturday, firing a two-under par 70 that featured three birdies and 14 pars and propelled him up the player leaderboard into 28th.
Senior Andrew Paysse (71-74=145, +1) holds a share of 37th while Walker Lee (74-72=146, +2) and Dan Erickson (74-73=147, +3) check in at 46th and 59th, respectively.
Junior All-American Chandler Phillips (75-77=152, +8) is still looking to find a rhythm at the championship, finishing the day in a tie for 121st.
"Dan, Brandon and Walker did a tremendous job today," said Higgins. "Chandler has struggled the last couple days but I think he'll be ready to go tomorrow. If he gives us his normal round, we'll be in great position heading into the final round of stroke play on Monday. Our goal is to qualify for match play and we're in good position to do that."
The Aggies will return to the course Sunday morning at 8:17 a.m. when they will be paired alongside Auburn and Texas. Live scoring and results can be found on golfstat.com and as well as live updates via twitter at @AggieMensGolf.