STANFORD, California — Phichaksn Maichon fired two eagles in Tuesday’s second round action at the NCAA Stanford Regional, moving into a tie for first place and propelling the No. 19 Texas A&M men’s golf team into third place on the leaderboard.
Maichon, the only golfer at the regional to play par or better on all 36 holes, made two eagles on his last nine holes of the day to finish 5-under 65. The Bangkok, Thailand, native eagled No. 1 and No. 7, both par 5 holes, to register 4-under 31 on his final nine. His two-round tally of 9-under 131 has him knotted with Florida State’s Luke Clanton and Max Herendeen of Illinois. The trio is in the same group for Wednesday’s final round at the par-70, 6,727-yard Stanford Golf Course.
The Maroon & White jumped one spot on the leaderboard and more importantly widened their gap to 14 shots above the NCAA Championship cutoff. Texas A&M fired a 12-under 268 on the day, moving to 21-under 539 for the tournament. Illinois leads the pack at 27-under 533 with Florida State sitting one stroke back.
The top five teams at each of the six three-round regionals advance to the championship slated for May 24-29 at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California. Ole Miss (-13) and SMU (-10) currently hold the last two spots with host Stanford lingering at 7-under 553. UCLA (-3), Augusta (-2) and UNLV (-2) are also in striking distance to take the last spot.
The Aggies were the only team to have all five golfers shoot in the 60s in Tuesday’s round. Through 36 holes, Texas A&M has accounted for six of the 18 eagles recorded at the regional site, including two apiece by Maichon and Daniel Rodrigues.
For the second consecutive day, Rodrigues and Michael Heidelbaugh both registered rounds of 3-under 67. The duo is tied for seventh place at 6-under 134. Rodrigues dropped in a 133-yard gap wedge shot to eagle the par-4 No. 13 and added five birdies on the day. Heidelbaugh logged six birdies, including four in a seven-hole stretching heading to the clubhouse.
Jaime Montojo and Aaron Pounds carded scores of 1-under 69 to round out the Aggie lineup. Pounds birdied three of his first seven holes on the day while Montojo made a late charge sinking birdie putts on his final three greens.
Wednesday’s action starts at 10 a.m. with the Aggies teeing off from No. 1 paired with frontrunners Illinois and Florida State.
Live scoring is available at Golfstat.
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Texas A&M Quotes
Head Coach Brian Kortan
On the Phichaksn Maichon’s effort through two rounds…
“P works and fights for all those shots. He’s just in control for the most part, but he’s made some saves and done some great things to keep the bogeys off the card. That’s one of the things we talk about. Great golf isn’t the some of the birdies we make, it’s kind of the some of the bogeys we don’t make. Point proven by him this week – don’t make bogeys and get a few birdies here and there and you’ll come out with a really good score.”
On the team effort and the only squad to post five scores in the 60s…
“We talk about it all the time. The strength of our team is the sum of the whole. When our group is playing well and we have five guys fighting for good scores we’re a really good team. Today was a case in point. I’m proud of the guys. They’re gritty. They’re tough. They’re chasing something this week and they’re getting after it.”
On today’s move up the leaderboard and stretching the cutoff gap…
“Obviously you like to have that gap, but we try really hard to make it about us. Tomorrow we’ll go into the round trying to take care of our own business. We know, and we’re comfortable in saying that when we do that we’ll be where we want to go. Again, I’m proud of the guys. They fought. Jaime (Montojo) got off to a bad start, but hung in there and shoots 1-under-par. Aaron (Pounds) got it going early which really helped us and settled a few guys down. Roddy (Daniel Rodrigues and P (Phichaksn Maichon) did there thing and Mike (Heidelbaugh) has been really steady the last few weeks so it’s a team effort and I’m proud of these guys.”
TEAM SCORES
1
Illinois
263-270=533
-27
2
Florida State
267-267=534
-26
3
Texas A&M
271-268=539
-21
4
Ole Miss
271-277=547
-13
5
SMU
285-265=550
-10
6
Stanford
269-284=553
-7
7
UCLA
277-280=557
-3
t-8
Augusta
280-278=558
-2
t-8
UNLV
281-277=558
-2
10
Missouri
286-276=562
+2
11
Fresno State
286-282=568
+8
12
Sacramento State
296-275=571
+11
13
Liberty
286-286=572
+12
14
Siena
287-299=586
+26
TEXAS A&M SCORES
t-1
Phichaksn Maichon
66-65=131
-9
t-7
Michael Heidelbaugh
67-67=134
-6
t-7
Daniel Rodrigues
67-67=134
-6
t-33
Jaime Montojo
71-69=140
E
t-53
Aaron Pounds
75-69=144
+4
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