FRISCO, Texas //  Navy's Danny Auffant (Sr / Bellevue, Wash.) completed the two-day, 54-hole Jackson T. Stephens Cup on Tuesday afternoon with a 21-over par 237 to tie for 34th among a field that featured two of the nation's top 25 teams in the Golfweek Preseason Rankings. Auffant was one of six golfers who received a special invitation to play as an individual in the team-scored event held at Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco in Frisco, Texas.

Auffant opened the tournament by posting a 4-over par 76, but the second round proved to be challenging as the senior standout struggled over his final nine holes and posted a 9-over par 81. After battling the back nine in the final round, Auffant saved his best for last, covering the final nine holes a stroke under.

Texas, ranked 24th in the preseason national rankings, easily won the stroke play portion of the tournament. The Longhorns, who held just a two-stroke advantage over Texas A&M after the opening round, broke the lead open in the second round with their 11-under par 277, followed by a 9-under par 279 in the final round. Texas finished the tournament with a 25-under par 839, 21 strokes ahead of Texas A&M who finished second with a 4-under par 860 (285-287-288), followed by Rice in third with a 2-under par 862 (286-289-287), Utah in fourth with a 25-over par 889 (290-294-305), SMU in fifth with a 28-over par 892 (293-291-308) and Houston in sixth with a 33-over par 897 (307-291-299).  

Preseason All-American Daniel Bennett and Matt Comegys, both of Texas, tied for individual medalist honors with a 9-under par 207. Comegys shot a 4-under par 68 in final round to come from a stroke behind to tie his teammate. Texas A&M's Shiv Parmar and Wheaton Ennis finished third and fourth with a 6-under par 210 and 5-under par 211, respectively.

Texas and Texas A&M will square off on Wednesday in match play for the tournament title.

Meanwhile, Emma Tang (76-74-79=229) and Vivian Cressman (74-81-81=236) represented  Navy in the women's tournament and finished 27th and 32nd, respectively.

The Jackson T. Stephens Cup is named in memory of the late Augusta National Chairman Jackson T. Stephens, who attended the Naval Academy and graduated as a member of the Class of 1947. The field at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium is named Jack Stephens Field, whose gift of $10 million in 2003 aided in the renovations of Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, as well as a handful of other projects part of the United States Naval Academy Campaign: Leaders to Serve the Nation.

The Navy men return to action when they play host to The Goat at the Naval Academy Golf Club on Saturday and Sunday. The two-day, 54-hole tournament begins on Saturday at 8:30 am with a shotgun start. 

### Go Navy ###