April 27, 1999
The Texas A&M men's golf team carded a final round 296 on Tuesday and finished seventh at the Big 12 Championships at Prairie Dunes Country Club.
Kansas won the team championship, leading the tournament wire to wire with rounds of 286-284-287=857, two strokes ahead of runner-up and No. 15-ranked Nebraska (288-284-287=859). No. 8-ranked Texas made the biggest charge of the final round with a one-under-par 279, the best round of the tournament by five shots, to finish third at 294-289-279=862. No. 6-ranked Oklahoma State, the two-time defending champions finished fourth at 291-287-290=868.
Colorado finished fifth (288-297-288=873), followed by Baylor (291-300-291=882), A&M (291-296-296=883), No. 22-ranked Oklahoma (301-287-301=889) and Iowa State (296-294-299=889), Kansas State (304-308-298=910), Texas Tech (297-310-309=916), and Missouri (304-308-316=928).
Texas Freshman David Gossett captured the individual title with a one-under-par total of 71-70-68=209, and was the only player in the field to break par on the par 70, 6,637 yard layout. Kansas' Chris Thompson (70-69-71=210) and Nebraska's Jamie Rogers (70-70-70=210) tied for second.
Junior Lee Reed led the Aggies with rounds of 68-75-74=217, tying for ninth place, his best finish and best 54-hole score of the year. Senior Ryan Palmer (79-70-72=221) and sophomore Casey Cronin (73-76-72=221) tied for 20th. Only team champion Kansas had more players finish in the top 20 with four. Nebraska, Texas and Oklahoma State also had three players finish in the top 20.
"The last two rounds I didn't hit the ball as well as I did the first round," Reed said. "I was kind of happy with how I played but I was kind of disappointed, too."
Also for A&M, freshman Sean Gililand tied for 38th with rounds of 74-75-78=227 and Senior Matt Welch finished 59th at 76-87-81=244.
"I was really pleased with Lee's performance," A&M coach Bob Ellis said. "He showed a little more of what he's capable of. We didn't play great but we still improved over what we've done all year. The way we played here is a little more indicative of the type of team we have."
Cronin had a solid final round and was one-under-par for the day after a birdie on the tenth hole. However, he double-bogeyed the 12th followed by bogeys on the 13th and 14th to go to three-over-par. Cronin birdied the 17th and finished with a routine par on 18 for his two-over-par 72.
Palmer had a wild final round. He bogeyed his first two holes, birdied the fifth and sixth to pull back to even-par then posted bogeys on nine, 10, and 12 to go four-over for the day. He came back with a birdie on the 13th but followed with a birdie on the 16th to remain at four-over. Then, Palmer had perhaps the shot of the day on the 500-yard par five 17th. After a lackluster drive Palmer nailed a 4-iron approach shot 220-yards to the front of the green where it took a short hop and just missed going into the hole for a double eagle. Palmer made the remaining four-foot eagle putt and closed his round with a par on the 18th to salvage his two-over-par 72.
"I struggled all day," Palmer said. "I didn't hit the ball as well as I thought I could but I putted well. It was good to see a couple go in."
The Aggies close their season May 15-16 at The Maxwell in Ardmore, Oklahoma. Palmer is a likely candidate to receive an individual berth in the NCAA Central Regional May 20-22 in Columbus, OH. The NCAA Championships are June 2-5 in Chaska, MN.