PALMER RECEIVES NCAA CENTRAL REGIONAL BID
May 11, 1999 | Men's Golf
May 11, 1999
Texas A&M senior Ryan Palmer (Amarillo HS/Amarillo, Texas) has been selected to play as an individual in the NCAA Men's Golf Central Regional May 20-22 at the Ohio State University Scarlet Golf Course in Columbus, Ohio.
A total of 21 teams and six individual players will comprise the Central Regional field, with the top 10 teams and two individuals advancing to the NCAA Championships June 2-5 at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn.
A&M failed to receive a team bid for the first time since 1991 and did not qualify for postseason play for only the third time in Bob Ellis's 25 years as head coach.
"In spite of the poor year our team had, it's a credit to Ryan to earn a berth in the regional as an individual," Ellis said. "I look for him to have a good performance at the regional and hopefully he can make the national tournament and play well there."
Eight Big 12 Conference teams will play in the Central Regional - Oklahoma State, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Iowa State, Texas and Baylor. In addition, Missouri's David Suggs received an individual bid. Other teams in the field are Minnesota, Northwestern, Kent State, Illinois, Toledo, Purdue, Tulsa, Houston, SMU, Texas-Arlington, North Texas, TCU and Arkansas. Other players receiving individual bids are Sam Houston State's Brandt Kieschnick, Ball State's Jamie Broce, Arkansas State's Zoltan Veress and Arkansas-Little Rock's Daniel Fox.
Palmer led the Aggies this season with a 73.41 stroke average and posted five top 10 finishes, including a runner-up finish at the prestigious Morris Williams Intercollegiate in Austin in late March. He was named All-Big 12 for the third straight year. Palmer won the 1996 Southland Conference title as a freshman at North Texas before transferring to A&M.
Last summer, Palmer was one of six amateurs to qualify for the U.S. Open in San Francisco and also qualified for the U.S. Amateur. As a junior at Amarillo High School in 1994, Palmer finished second at the Class 5A state tournament.
