Armendarez in Top 10, A&M-Victoria men’s golf 4th after first day in Fort Worth
FORT WORTH – The Texas A&M University-Victoria men's golf team put together two consistent rounds to sit inside the Top 5 after Day 1 of the Texas Wesleyan Spring Invitational.
The Jaguars shot 290-290—580 to sit in a tie for fourth place with Red River Athletic Conference foe University of the Southwest following the first two rounds at Squaw Creek Golf Course.
A&M-Victoria is just nine shots off the lead, held by No. 2-ranked Oklahoma City (281-290—571).
The Jaguars were spurred by a strong 36 holes from Fort Worth native Ethan Armendarez.
The sophomore went 69-73—142 (E) in the opening two rounds on the Par 71 track to sit in a tie for seventh place in the field of 68 golfers. Armendarez lit up the scorecard with five birdies in the first round. He kept a tidy scorecard in Round 2 with 13 pars and a pair of birdies.
Armendarez is T-3 among the field in Par 4 scoring with a 3.91 average.
Fellow sophomore Brandon Gratton (74-72—146, +4) and senior Paul Chopin (72-74—146, +4) are both T-24 after the first day.
Gratton carded four birdies in Round 1 before a strong second round which saw him rally back from a triple bogey on his fifth hole and close his final 13 holes at a bogey-free, two-under.
Chopin scattered three birdies across the two rounds and didn't score worse than bogey through 36 holes.
Florian Simon is T-33 after going 77-71—148 (+6) on Monday. The freshman closed his second round strong, posting a bogey-free, three-under over his final six holes to finish even for the round.
Lucky Boonsrirat rounded out A&M-Victoria's Day 1 scores, going 75-81—156 to sit 63rd.
The Jaguars wrap up the tournament on Tuesday.