A&M-Victoria golf teams set for Texarkana Invitational
The Texas A&M University-Victoria men's and women's golf teams are looking to build on their momentum next week.
The Jaguars travel to Texas A&M-Texarkana's Texarkana Invite at the Texarkana Country Club March 16-17.
The men are coming off a third-place finish at the Claud Jacobs Invitational a month ago while the women were led by Madeline Pate, who finished in the Top 5.
Those strong performances led to Pate and Florian Simon earning Red River Athletic Conference Golfers of the Week.
Scouting the men
Simon was one of three Jaguars to finish inside the Top 10 at the Claud Jacobs Invitational, going 69-73-76—218 and finishing in a tie for sixth with teammate Brandon Gratton (73-70-75—218).
Simon finished tied for second among the field of 74 golfers in birdies with 10 after carding three in the final round. His Golfer of the Week award was the fourth one earned by the Jaguars this season, joining Gratton, Boonsrirat and Paul Chopin.
Gratton and Lucky Boonsrirat finished third and second, respectively, in pars last time out with 37 and 38.
The Jaguars' had each of their starting five shoot rounds in the 70s to close out their home tournament, which led to them finishing third (288-289-301—881), 25 strokes better than the next closest RRAC team in A&M-Texarkana.
Next week's tournament will feature two other RRAC schools with A&M-San Antonio in the field with the Jaguars and Eagles.
Scouting the women
Pate went 82-80—162 (+18) at the Claud Jacobs Invitational to earn her fourth-career Top 10 finish and her third Top 5 finish en route to her first Golfer of the Week nod.
Pate was able to put together a pair of consistent rounds, carding four birdies over the two rounds and closing with a bogey-free stretch in the tournament's final three holes.
Kaitlin Lopez delivered one of the biggest improvements last time out, climbing four spots on the leaderboard in the final round. Lopez shot an opening-round 92, but responded with an 84 (+12) on day two, an eight-stroke improvement. Her second round featured a steady start and a more controlled back nine, helping her finish tied for 13th overall.
Laney Glass had a six-shot improvement to close out the Claud Jacobs Invitational, highlighting a strong finish for the Jaguars.
Follow along
The tournament has live scoring for both the men and women provided by Scoreboard powered by Clippd.