SAN ANTONIO – Texas A&M junior golfer Sam Bennett used a sizzling 5-under 67 in the final round of Cabo Collegiate to tally his first collegiate victory and earn an exemption to compete in the 2021 Valero Texas Open on Wednesday at the TPC San Antonio Oaks Course.
Bennett, from Madisonville, Texas, will return to San Antonio later this month for the PGA Tour event, which will be contested March 29-April 4 at TPC San Antonio.
"It's crazy," said Bennett, who was runner-up at the Valero Junior Texas Open in 2015. "It's a dream come true. Ever since I was little, I've wanted to play in a PGA Tour event. It's hard to not have that thought in your mind as you're coming down the last couple holes, but it was for sure there."
Bennett entered the day tied for second and three strokes behind the leader, but he turned in a stellar final round that featured six birdies and just a single bogey. His birdie on the 337-yard, par-4 17th hole gave him a one-stroke advantage over Oklahoma's Garett Reband and both players earned a par on the final hole to give Bennett the win. For the tournament, Bennett was 5-under par with rounds of 74-70-67.
"It feels good," Bennett said. "It always feels good to win and in this sport you don't get too many chances. Unfortunately last week in Laredo (Border Olympics), I had a pretty good chance but I didn't get the job done. Coach (Brian) Kortan and I talked about it and I learned a lot about what I did wrong and it feels good to come out on top."
Kortan said, "That guy is super competitive. He's from a small town, Madisonville, and he played all kinds of sports growing up and didn't like losing in any of them. He's a really ultra-competitive guy. He's had a few chances to win on the big stage in college golf but hadn't broken through. But he's learned and he's matured and today he got his victory."
As a team, the No. 14 Aggies placed third behind top-ranked Oklahoma and No. 15. Texas A&M finished 1-under par, which was three strokes behind the Sooners (-4) and two shots behind the Seminoles (-3). Rounding out the top 10 teams were No. 16 Texas Tech (+8), No. 3 Arizona State (+10), No. 22 Oklahoma State (+14), No. 10 Texas (+15), UTSA (+16), No. 12 Arkansas (+21) and No. 11 Arizona (+25).
Contributing counting scores for the Aggies in the final round were Bennett and senior Dan Erickson with 5-under 67s, freshman Daniel Rodrigues with a 2-under 70 and senior Walker Lee and sophomore William Paysse with 1-over 73s.
In addition to Bennett on the individual leaderboard, Erickson tied for fifth at 2-under (74-73-67), Lee tied for 26th at 4-over (73-74-73), Rodrigues tied for 29th at 5-over (78-73-70) and Paysse tied for 31st at 6-over (76-73-73).
Aggies on the Leaderboard (Final):
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About Texas A&M Athletics | Home of the 12th Man:
One of the most successful Athletics Departments in the nation, Texas A&M ranked No. 15 in the 2018-19 Learfield IMG College Directors' Cup standings and is one of eight Division I institutions nationally to finish in the top 20 of the prestigious ranking of athletics success for at least 13 consecutive years. For more information, go to www.12thMan.com.
About Texas A&M University:
Texas A&M University, the flagship university within the Texas A&M University System, is a tier-one research institution with nearly $1 billion in research grants and more than 69,000 students. The President of Texas A&M University has strategic oversight for campuses in College Station and Galveston, TX and Doha, Qatar. We include The Health Science Center with the College of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy, as well as The Texas A&M School of Law and Mays Business School. For more information, go to www.tamu.edu.
Bennett, from Madisonville, Texas, will return to San Antonio later this month for the PGA Tour event, which will be contested March 29-April 4 at TPC San Antonio.
"It's crazy," said Bennett, who was runner-up at the Valero Junior Texas Open in 2015. "It's a dream come true. Ever since I was little, I've wanted to play in a PGA Tour event. It's hard to not have that thought in your mind as you're coming down the last couple holes, but it was for sure there."
Bennett entered the day tied for second and three strokes behind the leader, but he turned in a stellar final round that featured six birdies and just a single bogey. His birdie on the 337-yard, par-4 17th hole gave him a one-stroke advantage over Oklahoma's Garett Reband and both players earned a par on the final hole to give Bennett the win. For the tournament, Bennett was 5-under par with rounds of 74-70-67.
"It feels good," Bennett said. "It always feels good to win and in this sport you don't get too many chances. Unfortunately last week in Laredo (Border Olympics), I had a pretty good chance but I didn't get the job done. Coach (Brian) Kortan and I talked about it and I learned a lot about what I did wrong and it feels good to come out on top."
Kortan said, "That guy is super competitive. He's from a small town, Madisonville, and he played all kinds of sports growing up and didn't like losing in any of them. He's a really ultra-competitive guy. He's had a few chances to win on the big stage in college golf but hadn't broken through. But he's learned and he's matured and today he got his victory."
As a team, the No. 14 Aggies placed third behind top-ranked Oklahoma and No. 15. Texas A&M finished 1-under par, which was three strokes behind the Sooners (-4) and two shots behind the Seminoles (-3). Rounding out the top 10 teams were No. 16 Texas Tech (+8), No. 3 Arizona State (+10), No. 22 Oklahoma State (+14), No. 10 Texas (+15), UTSA (+16), No. 12 Arkansas (+21) and No. 11 Arizona (+25).
Contributing counting scores for the Aggies in the final round were Bennett and senior Dan Erickson with 5-under 67s, freshman Daniel Rodrigues with a 2-under 70 and senior Walker Lee and sophomore William Paysse with 1-over 73s.
In addition to Bennett on the individual leaderboard, Erickson tied for fifth at 2-under (74-73-67), Lee tied for 26th at 4-over (73-74-73), Rodrigues tied for 29th at 5-over (78-73-70) and Paysse tied for 31st at 6-over (76-73-73).
Aggies on the Leaderboard (Final):
| Place | Team/Player | Rd. 1 | Rd. 2 | Total |
| 3 | Texas A&M | 297 | 289 | 277 |
| 1 | Sam Bennett | 74 | 70 | 67 |
| T5 | Dan Erickson | 74 | 73 | 67 |
| T26 | Walker Lee | 73 | 74 | 73 |
| T29 | Daniel Rodrigues | 78 | 73 | 70 |
| T31 | William Paysse | 76 | 73 | 73 |
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About Texas A&M Athletics | Home of the 12th Man:
One of the most successful Athletics Departments in the nation, Texas A&M ranked No. 15 in the 2018-19 Learfield IMG College Directors' Cup standings and is one of eight Division I institutions nationally to finish in the top 20 of the prestigious ranking of athletics success for at least 13 consecutive years. For more information, go to www.12thMan.com.
About Texas A&M University:
Texas A&M University, the flagship university within the Texas A&M University System, is a tier-one research institution with nearly $1 billion in research grants and more than 69,000 students. The President of Texas A&M University has strategic oversight for campuses in College Station and Galveston, TX and Doha, Qatar. We include The Health Science Center with the College of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy, as well as The Texas A&M School of Law and Mays Business School. For more information, go to www.tamu.edu.