LAFAYETTE, La. – The No. 15 Texas A&M men’s golf team defends its title at the Louisiana Classics when the Aggies tackle the par-72, 6,898-yard Oakbourne Country Club on Monday and Tuesday.
Last year, Texas A&M set school and tournament records with a 54-hole tally of 47-under, 817, to win the event by 12 strokes.
Sam Bennett also defends his individual title. The Madisonville, Texas, native set a tournament record with an 18-under, 198, stringing together three consecutive 66 rounds. He matched a tournament record winning by six strokes. The Aggies had three other players in the top 10, including William Paysse (t-3rd, -11), Daniel Rodrigues (t-6th, -9) and Walker Lee (8th, -8).
Bennett, Paysse and Rodrigues return to participate in the 2023 Louisiana Classics. They are joined by Jaime Montojo and Vishnu Sadagopan. Phichaksn Maichon will compete as an individual.
The Aggies enter the fray slotted No. 14 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Collegiate Ranking presented by StrackaLine, 15 in the Golfstat Ranking and No. 10 in the Bushnell/Golfweek Division Coaches Poll.
The field includes three teams ranked in the Golfstat top 50 and eight teams in the top 100. Texas A&M is joined by LSU as one of two SEC teams in the tournament.
The Aggies have claimed the Louisiana Classics title twice – 2018 and 2022. Six Texas A&M players have earned medalist honors, including Jorge Coghlan (1986), Marco Gortana (1993), Anthony Rodriguez (1995), Ryan Palmer (1998), Dan Erickson (2018) and Bennett (2022).
Texas A&M has three victories in the 2022-23 campaign, including the Badger Invitational, the Blessings Collegiate Invitational and the Arizona Thunderbirds Intercollegiate.
Monday’s action starts with an 8 a.m. shotgun start with the Aggies on holes 1, 2, 3 and 13. The teams play two rounds Monday and cap off the tournament with Tuesday’s final round starting with tee times on holes 1 and 10 beginning at 7:30 a.m.
Tuesday’s final round action will have coverage on ESPN+. Live scoring is available at Golfstat.com.
THE FIELD (GOLFSTAT RANKINGS)
Texas A&M (15)
Little Rock (32)
LSU (47)
SMU (62)
New Mexico State (73)
Michigan (82)
Sam Houston (91)
Illinois State (99)
Louisiana Tech (110)
UTSA (121)
Texas State (126)
Louisiana (144)
Denver (157)
New Orleans (228)
THE LINEUP
Team
Sam Bennett – Senior –…
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