February 12, 1998
The No. 25-ranked Texas A&M men's golf team begins its spring season Friday through Sunday at the Taylor Made/Big Island Intercollegiate in Kona, Hawaii.
The tournament will consist of 18 holes each day for a 54-hole total. Friday's and Sunday's rounds will be played on the par 72, 7,074-yard Waikaloa Kings Golf Course while Saturday's round will be played on the par 70, 6,566-yard Waikaloa Beach Golf Course.
In addition to A&M, the 20-team field includes Arizona, Arizona State, Arkansas, UCLA, UC-Santa Barbara, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Hawaii, UNLV, Nevada-Reno, Oregon, Oregon State, Pepperdine, San Francisco, Southern California, SMU, Texas, Texas-El Paso and TCU.
Representing A&M will be senior All-America Miguel del Angel (McAllen, Texas), juniors Ty Cox (Amarillo, Texas) and Ryan Palmer (Amarillo, Texas) and freshmen Ryan Tull (Georgetown, Texas) and Casey Cronin (Rockwall, Texas).
Del Angel had an impressive fall season, placing in the top six in three tournaments, including a tie for fourth at the Savane All-America Classic in El Paso, a tournament that included all the nation's returning All-Americans from last season. Del Angel led the team in the fall with a 71.71 stroke average, which is on pace to challenge the school record of 71.9 set by Philip Parkin in 1984.
Cox posted a 73.73 stroke average in the fall, followed by Tull at 75.75 and Palmer at 76.00. Cronin will be making his first appearance of the season.
"We're excited about getting our spring season started," A&M coach Bob Ellis said. "Miguel had an exceptional fall but as a team we need to be more consistent. This is a very strong field and we will be playing on a couple of tremendous golf courses. We need to play well and get some momentum going early."