Bennett Claims Old Waverly Collegiate Crown

Friday, March 26

West Point, Miss.

Texas A&M

Old Waverly Collegiate

Sam Bennett tallied his second individual title of 2021 with a victory at Mississippi State’s Old Waverly Collegiate Championship

Photo by: Mississippi State Athletics

Mar 28, 2021 | Men's Golf

OWCC final results

By: Brad Marquardt, Assistant AD / Athletics Communications

WEST POINT, Miss. – Texas A&M junior Sam Bennett tallied his second individual title of 2021 with a victory at Mississippi State's Old Waverly Collegiate Championship on Sunday at the Old Waverly Golf Club.

Bennett, from Madisonville, Texas, fired a 2-under par 70 in the weather-delayed final round to get to 11-under for the tournament, which was two strokes better than Eli Scott of Georgia. Next up for Bennett is a spot in next week's Valero Texas Open at the TPC San Antonio. Bennett received a PGA Tour exemption by winning the Cabo Collegiate at the TPC San Antonio earlier this month.

"I'm so pumped getting a win before heading to the Valero Texas Open," Bennett said. "It was a great way to prepare by playing against such a strong field at Old Waverly. My confidence level is through the roof and I cannot wait to get to San Antonio and tee it up against the best in the world. This win just makes the experience a little sweeter."

Added head coach Brian Kortan, "Sam is extremely focused and he's playing really well right now. I'm excited to see him get a chance to tee it up against the PGA Tour guys. I hope he's able to slow down and enjoy it. He's a competitive son of a gun."

With Bennett leading the way, the Aggies placed in a tie for second in the Old Waverly team standings behind No. 13 Georgia, who were 4-under on Sunday and 20-under for the tournament. Matching the Aggies at 10-under was host Mississippi State. Rounding out the team standings were Vanderbilt (-3), Tennessee (-3), Arkansas (-2), LSU (-2), East Tennessee State (+2), Ole Miss (+4), Texas Tech (+6), Alabama (+8), Little Rock (+11), Kansas State (+15) and Southern Mississippi (+16).

"We needed to be a little tougher, more resilient today," Kortan said. "We started pretty well but we had some hiccups that derailed us a little bit. But it was a positive experience. We put up good scores on a great golf course and we beat a bunch of good teams."

Other Aggie finishers were freshman Daniel Rodrigues in a tie for 16^th at 1-under (73-70-72), senior Walker Lee in a tie for 27^th at 1-over (71-69-74), senior Dan Erickson in a tie for 40^th at 3-over (72-69-78), sophomore William Paysse in a tie for 46^th at 4-over (75-70-75) and senior Brandon Smith in a tie for 68^th at 6-over (75-74-76).

Aggies on the Leaderboard (Final):

Place	Team	R1	R2	R3	Total
T2	Texas A&M	285	274	295	854
1	Sam Bennett	69	66	70	205
T16	Daniel Rodrigues	73	70	72	215
T27	Walker Lee	71	69	77	217
T40	Dan Erickson	72	69	78	219
T68	Brandon Smith	75	74	76	225

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