Month in Review: Aggie Men's and Women's Golf open spring season

The winter months are generally unkind to golfers. 

Cold temperatures, unpredictable weather and holiday travel compromise practice schedules. Consequently, games can suffer. Even the world’s best golfers fight to knock off the rust.

But rust has not been a problem for Texas A&M golfers Chandler Phillips and Maddie Szeryk.

They’ve combined for four top-five individual finishes, have led their teams to top-four finishes in every tournament of the spring thus far and are aiming to continue that streak in big tournaments in the upcoming month.

The Aggies started their spring schedule with a fourth place showing at the Arizona Intercollegiate and then a runner-up finish to Virginia in the John A. Burns Intercollegiate in Hawaii. Phillips claimed medalist honors and junior Kavan Eubanks finished in ninth place at 6-under par. 

Most recently, the Aggies had another second place finish at The Louisiana Classics in Lafayette, in which junior Cameron Champ joined Phillips in the top 10 at 4-under.

“One of the goals is always to be in the top five in every tournament we’ve played in. We’ve done that,” said Aggie head coach J.T. Higgins. “Only twice have we not been within 10 shots of the lead going into the final round. The only drawback is that we haven’t won. We haven’t knocked down the door yet, but I like where we’re at.”

Phillips, a sophomore from Huntsville, has carried over momentum from an All-SEC freshman campaign in 2016 to post two individual wins. In addition to his win in Hawaii, he won in the fall at the Golf Week Conference Challenge in Iowa. This spring, he has finished ninth in Arizona and tied for fourth in Lafayette.

“The greatest thing about Chandler is that he knows his game and he stays within it all the time,” Higgins said. “He doesn’t try to be anything he’s not. He has a good chance to make the Walker Cup Team, which is as good as it gets in amateur golf. He is definitely one of the best players in the country.”

In addition to Phillips, Eubanks and Champ won the first two tournaments of the fall and have each turned in top-10 finishes this spring. Freshman Dan Erickson has also been solid since joining the team in January. The quartet figures to have the top four spots in the lineup under control the rest of the season.

“They’re kind of separating themselves and taking their spots in the lineup pretty good,” Higgins said. “Dan’s been really impressive coming in at semester. He’s learning a lot. He’s a really talented kid.

“Kavan has been really great for us … a great addition to the team. Then with Cameron, we have a great one-two-punch. We really believe that we have two of the best players in the country on our team. So with those two guys and then Dan and Kavan, we’ve just got to find a fifth guy, and I think we can compete for the SEC Championship. Hopefully, if you can do that you can compete at nationals.”

A&M travels to the Bandon Dunes Championship in Bandon, Ore. March 12-14. The Scottish links-style course along the Pacific coast will give the players a taste of a style of golf that most Americans only get to see on TV during The Open Championship.

Luckily, the Aggies experienced a little of that last season when they played in County Kerry, Ireland.

“There’s not much you can do here in Texas to prepare for that,” said Higgins. “But we went to Ireland, and most of the guys who will be going to Bandon Dunes made that trip, so they have some experience in it. I was just looking at the field today, and it’s going to be strong. You’ve got Auburn, Texas Tech, Oregon and us. It’s pretty top heavy.”

After that is a trip to Palm City, Fla. for the Valspar Collegiate Invitational March 19-21, followed by The Aggie Invitational at Traditions April 1-2.

Higgins, who coached the Aggies to the 2009 National Championship, sees the championship qualities in his 2017 squad.

“Championship teams in golf are really strong at the top,” he said. “If you don’t have a one and a two guy, especially in the SEC, you can’t compete against the teams we’re playing against. We’ve got that.

“Then they have solid guys around them. The three, four, and five. I think we’ve got that. I don’t think we’re there yet, but we’re pretty close. If we can find a five-guy and keep everyone else making small gains in different parts of their own games, then we’re going to be all right.”

Since the tournament’s inception in 2013, the Aggie women’s team has traditionally traveled to Tallahassee for The Florida State Matchup to begin their spring season. This year, the Aggies finished third in the team standings. Szeryk opened with a 66 – tied for the lowest round in tournament history – and rode that to a second-place finish at 8-under. 

Szeryk was joined in the top 5 by senior Bianca Fabrizio at 6-under. 

A&M followed that up with a fourth-place finish in The Dickson, hosted by the University of Houston. Szeryk again finished runner-up.

Since the start of the season in September, the Aggies have finished in the top 5 in five of six tournaments. Coach Trelle McCombs is pleased with what the team has accomplished, but said there is still work to be done.

“I think for the most part we’ve been pretty successful,” she said. “We’ve had several rounds under par, which is always a good thing. It’s hard to complain about those. Those rounds haven’t necessarily been easy. We’ve had to fight our way through some things. I would say for the most part I’ve been pretty pleased with the results of the rounds but still have to work on some things to catch up to the best programs.”

Szeryk has gotten off to blistering starts in both tournaments of the spring. In addition to her 66 in Tallahassee, she opened with a 65 in The Dickson. The key now, according to McCombs, is carrying that opening round momentum over into day two.

“I think even though she has won now we have to really dissect some things mentally going from the first round to the last round,” McCombs said. “What those changes are. Is it physiological changes or is it mental changes? Is it emotional changes? It’s all of those things. I think now is the time to really dissect those things so that she can obviously continue what she’s doing to get her back in the winner’s circle.”

The Aggies have used the same lineup of Szeryk, Fabrizio, Courtney Dow, Thanya Pattamakijsakul, and Andrea Jonama in the first two tournaments of the spring. 

All five, with the exception of Dow, a freshman, are upperclassmen. McCombs tends to value that experience when it comes to setting her lineup.

“I have this saying: ‘If you’re a freshman, I’ll hold your hand. If you’re a senior, you’ll hold my hand,’’’ she said. “It’s really nice to have the upperclassman experience and knowing that you can send them out and they can go do their job. With Courtney being in the lineup as a freshman, that’s what I recruited her for. I knew that she was going to come in and make an immediate impact on this team. And she’s a kid who’s really not afraid to go out and get it done.”

Looking ahead to this month, A&M travels to Hawaii for the Dr. Donnis Thompson Invitational where they tied for first last year as Pattamakijsakul and Fabrizio finished first and second, respectively. 

Despite their past success, McCombs is taking nothing for granted.

“I think having won there before was just one of those things where we had the right combination at the right time,” she said. “This year’s field is a little tougher. There are a lot more ranked schools. So we’re just going to try to go in here and do our job and control what we can control.”

The Aggies end March with a trip to South Carolina for The Clemson Invitational at The Reserve at Lake Keowee March 31-April 2. With just three tournaments remaining until the SEC Championship in Hoover, AL., McCombs thinks that if this team learns from their early season mistakes, they can play with anybody in the country.

“We’ve gotten the opportunity to play with Florida State in several rounds,” she said. “Our girls are friends with their girls, and actually the coach is my best friend. And it’s funny the last morning on Tuesday of this week, one of the things they said was, ‘I don’t think A&M knows how good they can actually be.’ Our players are just as good as their players. So now we clean up some poise issues and make sure we don’t sweat the small stuff. I really believe in this thing and think they can do a lot of really good things, especially going into the post season.”