Following a season-opening victory at the Inverness Collegiate Sep. 10, the Cavaliers looked to extend the good mojo as they ventured their way down south for the Valero Texas Collegiate in San Antonio, Texas this weekend. Featuring a field chock-full of premier programs, the tournament looked to be a true challenge befitting for what is possibly Virginia’s most enticing on-course product in recent years. Ultimately, the Cavaliers tied for third place overall, proving their ability to compete with the country’s best.
The first round provided a mixed bag for the Cavaliers. The success they found came in bunches, with sophomore Josh Duangmanee going low to shoot a five-under 67 to position himself in a tie for fourth place on the individual leaderboard. Senior Paul Chang and junior Ben James followed suit, both coming off the 18th green at three-under.
Virginia’s first-round misfortunes laid in the play of junior Bryan Lee and freshman Maxi Puregger. The pair shot 75 and 74, respectively, but the missteps did little to alter the Cavaliers’ fourth-place position on the leaderboard heading into the second round.
Day two proved to be somewhat of an inverted result from the first round, as Lee and Puregger recovered exquisitely with a 69 and 70. In a shocking turn of events, Duangmanee and Chang both imploded, with the former regressing to even par with a 77 and Chang carding a 78 to get to three-over for the tournament. Despite the massive shifts for the Cavaliers, James never wavered, once again shooting a 69 to move into fifth place.
With one more round to go, the Cavaliers found themselves in limbo, both in a promising team third place but also behind tournament-leading Oklahoma by a staggering 10 strokes. A late climb was not entirely out of the question, but prospects were certainly bleak.
With the fate of the team competition uncertain, James made his big move on day three. The star hunkered down and entered the clubhouse with a 66 to enter a tie for first place with Auburn’s Josiah Gilbert. This proved to be the only real positive takeaway from the day’s play for Virginia, however, as Duangmanee and Lee made safe but far-from-memorable scores of 71.
Chang did well to regain his composure after his substandard second round, firing a 73. Unfortunately for the prospective young talent, Puregger ended his tournament with a team-worst 81 as he faded quietly into a tie for 70th place on the individual leaderboard. Virginia ended up tied for third in the tournament, 11 strokes behind the first-place Sooners.
Although the weekend came and went without a second-straight tournament win for the Cavaliers, their time in Texas was not entirely without hardware. With his win, James earned quite a unique reward — an exemption to play in the Valero Texas Open on the PGA Tour come April. This will be James’ seventh appearance on golf’s biggest stage after playing in four events last season.
James should get proper recognition for the accomplishment and his increasing presence amongst the college game’s best, but the Cavaliers left Texas wanting just a bit more from their weekend. They will have a chance to defend their title at the Hamptons Intercollegiate in two weeks’ time, and if they can make some corrections during their extended time off, they are more than capable of claiming that second win of their young season.
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