October 09, 2000
Freshman Stephen Reed had 13 birdies in Monday's opening 36 holes of the 13th Annual Taylor Made Red River Classic at Dallas Athletic Club and is tied for seventh in the individual standings going into Tuesday's final round.
Reed, who tied for third in his college debut last month at the SMU Stonebridge Shootout, posted rounds of 72-66=138 on Monday, six under par on the par-72 layout. Craig Liles of Arkansas burned the course with rounds of 66-68=134 (10 under par), two strokes ahead of second-place Andy Sanders of Houston, who carded 69-67=136.
As a team, the Aggies are tied for 11th in the powerful 15-team field, which includes nine teams ranked among the nation's top 25. No. 22-ranked Southern California leads the tournament with rounds of 294-269=563, one stroke ahead of No. 9 Texas (564). No. 13 TCU is in third place (565), followed by SMU (569), No. 5 Houston (571), No. 20 Kent State (571), No. 23 Oklahoma (571), Duke (572), No. 21 Washington (572), No. 8 Oklahoma State (575), A&M (577), No. 19 Brigham Young (577), LSU (578), Ohio State (578) and Arkansas (582).
A&M also had a strong first-day effort from senior Casey Cronin, who is tied for 29th after posting rounds of 70-73=143. Also for A&M, junior Sean Gilliland is tied for 55th at 78-69=147, freshman Duke Butler is tied for 65th at 77-72=149 and sophomore Dwayne Morley is in 80th at 81-74=155.
After a spectacular up-and-down opening round on Monday, Reed settled for simple spectacular in the afternoon round. In the morning 18, Reed was one-under-par after six holes, but took a double bogey 5 on the par-3 seventh hole. He then posted consecutive birdies on 10, 11 and 12 to get to two-under, but followed with a disastrous triple bogey 6 on the par 3 13th. He birdied the 16th and 17th to get back to even par for the round.
In the afternoon round, Reed played almost flawlessly, missing the school record for lowest single round by just one stroke. He recorded four birdies on the front nine to make the turn in 32, then added three more birdies on the back to get to seven under for the day. However, Reed's only hiccup came on the final hole as he bogied the par 4 18th, his lone bogey of the round.