Record-Setting Day for Aggie Golf at Blessings – Texas A&M Athletics

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The No. 9 Texas A&M men’s golf team vaulted to the top of the leaderboard with a record-setting round at the Blessings Collegiate Invitational on Tuesday at the University of Arkansas’ Blessings Golf Club.
 
With all four scorers at par or better, the Aggies scorched the course with a 15-under par score of 273, which broke the tournament record by five strokes (old record of 278 by Arkansas in 2021). The Aggies 36-hole score of 565 matches the Blessings Collegiate record, also set by the Razorbacks in 2021.
 
“It was just a great team effort, but the job’s not finished,” Aggie head coach Brian Kortan said. “We need to put another good round together tomorrow, which we can do by doing the same things that we did today and that’s executing shots, playing the right way and just trusting what we do.
 
“We were just better all around today, and we still made some doubles. This golf course is challenging. There’s not a shot out there that you can take a breather on. The guys strung a lot of great shots together and kind of fed off each other a little bit. It was really good golf. From A to Z, from one to 18, we put a lot of great shots together.”
 
Leading the way was junior Daniel Rodrigues, who surged into the individual lead on the strength of a 6-under 66. With rounds of 69 and 66, Rodrigues’ 36-hole total of 135 was the second-lowest in Blessings tournament history. He enters the third and final round with a one-shot lead over Kansas’ Gunnar Broin.

“Our goal as a team is to play efficient and clean, and Dani is doing those things,” Kortan said. “He’s making a few putts and executing at a really high level. Rodi is a really good player. We’re fortunate that he’s on our side. He’s put a lot of good shots together and he’s sticking to the game plan.”

 

The biggest mover on the individual leaderboard was sophomore Phichaksn Maichon, who used a 5-under 67 to jump a whopping 28 spots into a tie for sixth place at 1-under. Also at 1-under for the tournament, senior Sam Bennett chipped in a 4-under 68. Wrapping up the Aggie scorers was senior William Paysse with an even-par 72 as he climbed into a tie for ninth place. Freshman Jaime Montojo carded a 1-over 73 and moved up four…