Texas A&M golf's Brian Kortan turns his attention to 2024-25 slate

Texas A&M men's golf is set to begin its fall slate in early September as the Aggies look to build on another NCAA Championship appearance. During Thursday morning's edition of TexAgs Radio, head coach Brian Kortan shared the latest regarding his program.

Key notes from Brian Kortan interview

• I’ve got some guys playing right now in the U.S. Amateur. Phichaksn Maichon and Wheaton Ennis are there, and they won their first match. They're in the final 32 players of the tournament. That’s where Sam Bennett became Sam Bennett. They’re doing great.
   
• Things are a moving target with everything changing in the NCAA, but our job doesn’t change. In recruiting, we try to get the best match for our program: Talented guys who want to be Aggies for life.
   
• I think we got better as the year went on last season. We had a really bad finish to our second round at the NCAA Championship, but you got to play them all. The guys gave what they had, and they were a hardworking bunch. It set us up for this year. We had a lot of guys play really good golf this summer.
   
• We only lost one guy in Daniel Rodrigues, who basically played every tournament for us for four years. We are bringing in Wheaton and Alex Long, and then we dipped into the transfer portal to grab Jacob Sosa from Texas. It’ll be good to see him put on Maroon and get going in the program.
   
• Growth is a great word for Maichon. COVID hit him hard. He was in Thailand, and they shut down everything over there. We have pushed him, and he has really matured. He digs his heels in, and we expect him to be the lead guy this year. Not only is he a great player, he is a really great dude. He’s fun to listen to, fun to be around, and man, he is a hard worker.
   
• We notice when our guys are working too hard by where their energy is at and by their body language. Maichon, Aaron Pounds, Jack Usner and Jake Maggert are guys who are just workers. That’s a big evaluation for us: Seeing who can fit our mold because we are an elite program and have a blue-collar mentality to their play. They dig in a little bit, and they end up being, basically, a family for four years. When we have that mentality in our program, we’re strong.
   
• Wheaton is from Boise, Idaho, and he is one of the best players in junior golf. He has played in so many high-level competitions, and he has been playing big junior and amateur events too. He is learning how to win golf tournaments and stack rounds. He is a wonderful guy, and he committed really quickly to us. He wanted to be an Aggie.
   
• The NCAA is always changing, but not at the same time. We are going to approach it how we always have. We have 4.5 scholarships. We expect to compete at a very high level, so we will find guys who will do that for us. We’re ready to tee it up, and we have a great group of guys who are ready to compete.
   
• The number of scholarships that they’re saying is nine, so it will be a nine-roster program. In terms of how we are doing things, we are just going about our business. We’re getting the best players and the best fits for our program, so we will keep going.
   
• We add Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC, and those are two teams that have won national championships in recent years. Our already really difficult conference became even more challenging, but let’s tee it up. Let’s go.
   
• We have blue-collar guys. The balance that they are able to settle into at A&M by living outside of golf is incredible. When they leave here, they will be ready for whatever is in front of them.
   
• We’re playing at some fantastic venues. We are going to Olympia, Illinois, which has hosted several major championships. Then we head up to Colonial in Fort Worth, which did a huge remodel, and then play Sedgefield in Greensboro, where the PGA Tour was last week. It makes it easy to leave town when you know what you’re facing. Five tournaments where we take the home team, and then we will mix a few others to get some experience. I like how our fall stacks up. You get a month and a half of golf that comes at you pretty quickly.
   
• There are more people around that have ties to A&M when we play in Dallas, but Aggies are everywhere. Wherever we go, we typically run into someone at an airport that shows off their ring. No matter where we go, there will always be people with eyes on us.
   
• School starts on Aug. 19, so we will start practice soon thereafter. From the time we get to the first meetings to the time we play, it is a good introduction to what we are doing. Before you know it, you are at Sedgefield, and the fall season is coming to a close.
   
• I’m very happy with everything. Traditions is getting a renovation. We have done a great job on our facility, and we have more projects coming. There has been a lot of growth, and we have to continue to grow and evolve with the times. We want to be elite, and that’s where we are going to be.