OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill.- The No. 4 Texas A&M men's golf team opens its 2018-19 campaign at the Olympia Fields Country Club Fighting Illini Invitational, with tee times beginning at 7:30 a.m. on Friday.
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"Nothing like jumping into the deep end to see if you can swim. Olympia Fields is one of the best courses we will see all year and this is one of the best fields we will face in our first outing of the season," said Texas A&M head coach JT Higgins. "The boys have looked great in qualifying, we've had some success here in the past, and I know they are itching to get out there and compete again. We are very excited to tee it up this week."
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The Aggies won the 2017 version of the event at Olympia Fields Country Club, a course that has hosted four men's professional major championships, most recently the 2003 U.S. Open. Texas A&M shot a tournament-record 3-under 837 to win the event by nine strokes over Alabama.
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This season's field on the Par 70 / 7,353 yard North Course features 10 Top 25 teams, including three of the top four teams in the nation—No. 1 Oklahoma State, No. 2 Alabama and No. 4 Texas A&M. Ranked foes No. 11 Cal, No. 11 Stanford, No. 14 Baylor, hosts No. 16 Illinois, No. 20 USC, No. 23 UNLV and No. 25 Florida State are also participating, as Air Force, Indiana, Purdue and South Carolina round out the 14-team field.
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2017-18 All Americans Chandler Phillips and Brandon Smith lead the Aggies' lineup for the 54-hole event, joined by Dan Erickson, Walker Lee and Josh Gliege. All five had a scoring average of 73.03 or better in the 2017-18 campaign, led by Phillips' school-record 70.85. Smith (71.84), Gliege (72.31) and Erickson (72.36) all posted scoring averages in Texas A&M's single-season Top 20 a season ago.
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Live scoring for the event, which runs through Sunday, is available on golfstat.com, and updates will be available via twitter on @AggieMensGolf.
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"Nothing like jumping into the deep end to see if you can swim. Olympia Fields is one of the best courses we will see all year and this is one of the best fields we will face in our first outing of the season," said Texas A&M head coach JT Higgins. "The boys have looked great in qualifying, we've had some success here in the past, and I know they are itching to get out there and compete again. We are very excited to tee it up this week."
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The Aggies won the 2017 version of the event at Olympia Fields Country Club, a course that has hosted four men's professional major championships, most recently the 2003 U.S. Open. Texas A&M shot a tournament-record 3-under 837 to win the event by nine strokes over Alabama.
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This season's field on the Par 70 / 7,353 yard North Course features 10 Top 25 teams, including three of the top four teams in the nation—No. 1 Oklahoma State, No. 2 Alabama and No. 4 Texas A&M. Ranked foes No. 11 Cal, No. 11 Stanford, No. 14 Baylor, hosts No. 16 Illinois, No. 20 USC, No. 23 UNLV and No. 25 Florida State are also participating, as Air Force, Indiana, Purdue and South Carolina round out the 14-team field.
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2017-18 All Americans Chandler Phillips and Brandon Smith lead the Aggies' lineup for the 54-hole event, joined by Dan Erickson, Walker Lee and Josh Gliege. All five had a scoring average of 73.03 or better in the 2017-18 campaign, led by Phillips' school-record 70.85. Smith (71.84), Gliege (72.31) and Erickson (72.36) all posted scoring averages in Texas A&M's single-season Top 20 a season ago.
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Live scoring for the event, which runs through Sunday, is available on golfstat.com, and updates will be available via twitter on @AggieMensGolf.