April 26, 1999
The Texas A&M men's golf team is in sixth place after Monday's opening two rounds of the Big 12 Championships at Prairie Dunes Country Club.
Tuesday's final round is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. The Aggies will be paired with Colorado and Texas.
A&M carded rounds of 291-296=587 to trail surprise leader Kansas(286-284=570) by seventeen strokes going into the final round. The Jayhawks are ranked No. 33 in the latest MasterCard rankings. No. 15-ranked Nebraska is in second at 288-284=572, followed by No. 6 Oklahoma State (291-287=578), No. 8 Texas(294-289=583), Colorado (288-297=585), A&M (587), No. 22 Oklahoma (301-287=588), Iowa State (296-294=590), No. 43 Baylor (291-300=591), Texas Tech (297-310=607), Kansas State (304-308=612) and Missouri (304-308=612).
Kansas possesses Chris Thompson (70-69=139) and Ryan Vermeer (68-71=139) share the individual lead and were the only players in the field to break par for the first 36 holes on the par 70, 6337 yard layout, which is ranked among the top 30 courses in the world. Nebraska's Jamie Rogers is alone in third place with an even-par total of 70-70=140.
"It seemed like none of our players putted very well but overall this has been one of our best performances all year and this is the best time to do it," A&M coach Bob Ellis said. "We would love to come in with a great round tomorrow I told everyone to just enjoy themselves and have fun because there is no place to go but up. A lot depends on the weather but I suspect we'll need to shoot about six-under as a team to have a chance to win."
A&M was led on Monday by junior Lee reed who opened with a 68, but followed with a 75 for a 143 total, placing him 11th, four strokes out of the lead. The A&M trio of Senior Ryan Palmer (79-70=149), sophomore Casey Cronin (73-76=149) and freshman Sean Gililand (74-75=149) are tied for 27th while senior Matt Welch (76-87=163) is tied for 58th.
"The first round was really encouraging because Ryan didn't play well but our team play was solid without him," Ellis said. "To be only five back after the first round was really a great performance and showed what we're capable of but just haven't done all season. The afternoon round was disappointing. Ryan played better and while the other players didn't play badly we just didn't bring it in very strong. The only difference between our scores and the teams ahead of us was our putting."
Reed's opening 68 was only one shot out of the lead after the morning round and was his best round all season by four strokes. Reed made five birdies and three bogeys in the round. In the second round, he took a double bogey on his fifth hole after requiring two shots to escape a fairway bunker. He followed with three consecutive bogeys to go five-over-par after seven holes then closed with eleven straight pars.
"The morning round was the best I've played all semester but it could have been better because I made three no-brain bogeys," Reed said. " For some reason, I didn't hit the ball as well in the afternoon. In that one early stretch, I missed four putts inside five feet, but from there on I made every par putt I looked at. I'm putting pretty well and hopefully tomorrow I can hit it as well as I did in the morning round today and have a chance to win."
Palmer, who entered the tournament as one of the leagues hottest players after four straight top ten finishes, battled his putter all day, especially in the first round, when he missed nine greens in regulation and saved par just once. He closed the morning round with birdies on the 17th and 18th holes to break 80. In the afternoon round, he took bogeys on his 4th and 13th holes but birdies on the 7th and 8th holes handed him an even-par 70.
"I hit the ball pretty well all day but my putting was brutal," Palmer said. "I lost my confidence in the first round and there was nothing I could do. I birdied the last two holes of the first round and that seemed to get me going. I was pleased with my second round but I still didn't feel like I putted very well."
Palmer is trying to earn All-Big 12 honors for the third straight year and is also trying to solidify his claim to an individual berth in the NCAA Central Regional May 20-22 in Columbus, OH. The Aggies must win the Big 12 Championship to have a chance at earning a team berth in the regional.