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Salem, SC—Phichaksn Maichon made a 50-foot eagle putt on the 16th hole and Vishnu Sadagopan made a par on the 14th to lead Texas A&M to a one-shot victory over Clemson in a playoff for the fifth and final spot in the NCAA National Men’s Golf Tournament from the Salem Regional in Salem, SC.
The Aggies join Georgia Tech (811), Arkansas (819), North Carolina (821) and New Mexico (822) as the five teams that will advance from the 54-hole tournament at the Cliffs at Keowee Falls. Clemson tied for fifth with the 14th-ranked Aggies after the three rounds at 835 strokes, 29-under-par. Clemson served as the host school for the event for the first time.
Clemson and Texas A&M both made amazing comebacks on Wednesday to get into the playoff for the final spot. The Tigers were in seventh-place entering the final round, seven shoots behind Northern Illinois, who was the fifth-place team at 23-under-par. Texas A&M was in eighth place at 12-under-par, 11 shots behind Northern Illinois.
Both Clemson and Texas A&M were still out of the top five entering the final three holes. But, Clemson played the last three holes at five-under-par as a team and Texas A&M played the last three at four-under to go ahead of Georgia Southern and San Diego State, who both finished at 28 under-par.
Sam Bennett, who gained national acclaim in April by finishing 16th at The Masters, made birdies on four of his last five holes, including a six-foot birdie putt on the 18th that got the Aggies into a tie with Clemson.
The NCAA playoff format put Clemson and Texas A&M players on holes 14-18 in five consecutive twosomes. Clemson senior Zack Gordon, who had shot 70 earlier in the day, made a 50-foot downhill eagle putt on the par five 16th to put Clemson in a commanding position. It would be the last shot of Gordon’s five-year Clemson career.
But, Maichon, who had just three eagles all year for Texas A&M, including one earlier in this tournament, then drained a a 50-foot uphill putt to match Gordon’s shot.
Clemson’s Andrew Swanson made a birdie on the 18th hole to beat Sam Bennett by a shot in their playoff matchup.
Results of the first four matches had the score between the two teams tied at two-under-par apiece. But, Sadagopan made par on the 14th hole and Clemson’s Kian Rose, who was Clemson’s best player on Wednesday with a 67 and made a birdie on the 18th hole in stroke play to get Clemson into the playoff, made bogey on 14 and Texas…
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