The Texas A&M men’s and women’s golf teams proved the power of a strong finish at their respective tournaments over the weekend, as the men battled at the OFCC/Fighting Illini Invitational in Olympia Hills, Illinois and the women competed at the Mason Rudolph Championship in Franklin, Tennessee.
The men’s squad jumped ahead five spots on the leaderboard at Olympia Fields Country Club on Saturday to wrap up the action in a tie for sixth place among 15 teams. On Sunday, the A&M women’s team posted a 12-under 276 to jump three spots into ninth place in a field of 16 programs at Vanderbilt Legends Club.
The No. 19 men’s team battled through wet conditions Friday in the suburbs of Chicago to shoot a 6-over 286 that put it in 11th place. Senior Phichaksn Maichon logged a 1-under 69 with three birdies that put him in a tie for 11th in the individual leaderboard.
“P is playing some really steady, unspectacular, golf which is kind of his calling card,” coach Brian Kortan said in a press release. “He does that a lot. He puts himself in a good spot for a great round. He hits a couple more putts or hits a few more good shots and it’s a 65 instead of 69. It’s really steady and he’s playing with a lot of confidence. He enjoys playing these challenging golf courses because he knows that the style he plays will serve him well.
With the tournament’s final two rounds played Saturday, freshman Wheaton Ennis and senior Michael Heidelbaugh stepped up to lead the Aggies’ late jump. The pair each posted a 2-under 68 in the second round, with Ennis logging the same score in the third round. The Idaho product tied for 11th place at 2-under 208.
“Wheaton got his feet wet a couple weeks ago at Sahalee and today he was pretty comfortable on the golf course,” Kortan said in a release. “He took care of the ball really well and he didn’t give in. He just kept making some hard pars and had his chances to make some birdies. So, a really good finish for him.”
Heidelbaugh’s 1-over 71 and Maichon’s 2-over 72 in the third round put both in a tie for 22nd at 2-over 212. Junior Jaime Montojo tied for 55th with a 9-over 219 and sophomore Aaron Pounds came in a tie for 65th at 12-over 222. As a group, A&M shot 8-over 848 and improved from its 12th-place finish at the Sahalee Players Championship two weeks ago.
“As a team, this was a step in the right direction,” Kortan said in a release. “We’re far from a finished product, but the improvement we saw this week compared to where we were at Sahalee a couple weeks ago, it was nice to see. I’m so proud of the guys for their fight.”
No. 17 Georgia Tech won the OFCC/Fighting Illini Invitational by one stroke over No. 2 Arizona State at 12-under 828. Texas led SEC teams in fifth place at 3-over 843 while Florida tied for ninth and Alabama finished in 12th.
On the women’s side, the No. 9 Aggies’ final round was tied for the fifth-best in program history and headlined the field on the final day of play. Posting an 11-under 853 across the tournament, A&M matched the 10th-lowest 54-hole showing in team history.
“That was a glimpse into what this group can do together,” coach Gerrod Chadwell said in a press release. “That round was encouraging to see and showed the girls that they can contend if they clean up the little things. That was what we were looking for all week, and I know we have more days like that ahead.”
The Aggies’ usual suspects led the way over the three-day event, as senior Adela Cernousek and sophomore Cayetana Fernández García-Poggio logged a 9-under 207 and a 7-under 209, respectively. Both athletes carded a 5-under 67 in Sunday’s round to spur the jump.
The duo built upon top-10 performances at The Carmel Cup three weeks prior, as Cernousek finished in seventh individually while Fernández García-Poggio tied for 12th.
A&M remained in 12th place through the first two days with rounds of 1-under 287 and 2-over 290 ahead of Sunday’s spark. Senior Lauren Nguyen and freshman Vanessa Borovilos modeled that improvement as they bettered their performances by four and 12 strokes, respectively, from the first round to the third.
Alabama transfer Kynadie Adams finished in a tie for 56th place at 4-over 220 while Nguyen tied for 68th at 7-over 223 and Borovilos tied for 80th at 12-over 228.
Texas finished at the top of the Mason Rudolph Championship with a 31-under 833 performance. The SEC’s South Carolina, Vanderbilt and Mississippi State also finished in the top 10 with A&M, with the Gamecocks coming in second. Kentucky and Alabama also participated.
The Aggies return to action with the men competing at the Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational in Fort Worth on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. The women’s team returns to the course at the White Sands Invitational in the Bahamas on Oct. 18-20.
