No. 8 Texas heads to Colonial Country Club with Daniel Bennett and Matt Comegys leading a lineup that just captured the Jackson T. Stephens Cup.
No. 8 Texas men's golf won't have to wait long for another serious measuring stick.
The Longhorns begin play Monday at the Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, where one of the strongest fields in college golf will be waiting.
Fourteen teams in the 16-team field are ranked in the latest Bushnell/Golfweek poll, including No. 1 Auburn, No. 2 Oklahoma State, No. 3 Arizona State and No. 5 Texas Tech.
Texas enters with momentum.
The Longhorns won the Jackson T. Stephens Cup earlier this month, beating Texas A&M 3-1 in the championship match after finishing the 54-hole stroke-play portion 25-under 839, a staggering 21 shots ahead of the Aggies.
Daniel Bennett and Matt Comegys were at the center of that performance.
Both finished 9-under 207 to share medalist honors, giving each his first collegiate individual victory. Bennett has been particularly sharp through the opening weeks, carrying a 68.50 scoring average through six rounds, with all six at par or better.
Comegys isn't far behind at 69.83, and he enters Colonial ranked No. 21 in the PGA TOUR University Class of 2027.
Freshman Sterling Hurd adds another intriguing element.
Hurd won co-medalist honors in his collegiate debut at the Bayou City Collegiate Classic, shooting 10-under 206 with opening rounds of 65 and 67. That earned him SEC Freshman of the Week honors and a spot in the Texas lineup at Colonial.
Brooks Harper and Adam Villanueva round out the five-man group.
The format will be 54 holes of stroke play, with 36 holes Monday and 18 Tuesday. Colonial will play at 7,289 yards and par 70.
Texas knows this course well. The Longhorns shared the team title at the Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational last season, so this isn't simply another road event.
It's an early opportunity to prove the Jackson T. Stephens Cup wasn't a one-week surge.
Texas already has a championship, two co-medalists and a freshman winner on its early-season resume. Now comes the heavyweight field.
