May 16, 1998
The Texas A&M men's golf team struggled to a dismal 16-over-par 300 Saturday in the final round of the NCAA Central Regional at Oak Hills Country Club, finishing in 11th place and just missing a third straight berth in the NCAA Championships.
The top 10 teams and two individuals not on those teams advance to the NCAA Championships May 27-30 in Albuquerque, N.M. The Aggies finished just three strokes behind 10th-place Kent, which fired a final round 284 and finished at 868. This is the first time since 1995 that A&M has not advanced to the national tournament. The Aggies won the regional in 1996 in Ann Arbor, Mich., and finished third last year in Norman, Okla.
Houston won the regional title by four strokes with a total of 845, while Oklahoma was second at 849. Also advancing to the national tournament are Northwestern (854), TCU (855), Nebraska (857), Minnesota (862), Oklahoma State (864), Ohio State (864) and Miami of Ohio (867).
Northwestern's Matt Seppanen won the individual crown by two strokes with rounds of 68-68-69=205. Nebraska's Jamie Rogers was second at 73-65-69=207. Kansas' Chris Thompson, who tied for seventh at 210, and Texas-Arlington's Harry Singh, who tied for 10th at 211, will advance to the NCAA Championships as individuals.
A&M junior Ryan Palmer, who opened the tournament with rounds of 68-69 and was in third place in the individual standings going into the final round, struggled to a 75 on Saturday and finished at one-under-par 212, one stroke behind Singh for the final individual qualifying spot. Palmer was one-under-par for the round after nine holes but carded a five-over-par 41 on the back side.
Senior Miguel del Angel, the defending regional co-champion, closed with a final round 71 to finish at 218 and tied for 34th. Freshman Ryan Tull tied for 66th at 68-75-79=22, while sophomore Lee Reed finished tied for 75th with rounds of 74-74-75=223. Junior Ty Cox tied for 103rd at 80-71-79=230.
"We are obviously very disappointed," A&M head coach Bob Ellis said. "It was a shame for us to play like we did on the back nine. I don't really know what happened. It's a tough way for us to end the season. I don't know that the pressure got to us, we just didn't play well. Kent State really played well and did what they had to do to finish in the top 10."
Sam Houston State's Todd Rossetti, competing as an individual, tied for 21st at 73-68- 74=215.
Other teams of note than will not advance from the regional are 12th-place Kansas, 15th- place Texas-Arlington, 18th-place SMU, 19th-place Baylor and 20th-place Texas.