April 28, 1998
The No. 33-ranked Texas A&M men's golf team finished fifth after firing a final round 302 at the Big 12 Championships at the Prairie Dunes Country Club (par 70, 6,593 yards) in Hutchinson, Kansas.
No. 7 Oklahoma State (312-295-291=898) captured the team title by seven strokes after trailing No. 49 Texas by a stroke entering Tuesday's final round. The Longhorns finished at 307- 299-299=905, while Colorado (317-307-294=918) and No. 26 Oklahoma (311-311-297=919) also finished ahead of A&M. A&M edged No. 35 Kansas (313-313-307=933) to finish in the top five.
Oklahoma's Hunter Haas (72-75-71=218) edged Texas' Brad Elder (73-74-72=219) by one stroke to capture the individual title.
A&M sophomore Lee Reed (78-81-74=231) finished as the top Aggie. Reed made pars on all but the par-3 9th where he took a quadruple-bogey to finish with a final round 4-over-par. Junior Ryan Palmer (74-81-77=232) finished in a tie for 19th, while junior Ty Cox (79-78- 76=233, T-22nd), senior Miguel del Angel (78-81-76=235, T-27th) and freshman Ryan Tull (80- 81-76=237, T-34th) round out A&M scoring.
"I am proud of the way we bounced back after such a disappointing second round," A&M head coach Bob Ellis said. "We were just too far back to make up any ground on the leaders."
"The weather was just awful," Ellis said. "I have never seen worse conditions for three consecutive rounds in a collegiate golf tournament. We should get a regional bid and we will take our chances there."
The NCAA Central Regional will be played May 14-16 at the Oak Hill C.C. in San Antonio, Texas.