February 15, 2002
The Texas A&M men’s golf team struggled through heavy winds to post a final round of 310 on Friday and finished 17th at the Taylor Made Waikaloa Intercollegiate at the Waikaloa Resort Kings Golf Course. The tournament was the Aggies’ spring season opener.
Top-ranked Georgia Tech won the team title with rounds of 281-285-294=860, eight shots ahead of runner-up Oklahoma’s 868 total. Arkansas, Nevada and Fresno State tied for third at 875, followed by Washington (877), Arizona State (878), Kansas (879), Southern California (885), Houston (885), Stanford (887), TCU (887), Pepperdine (887), UNLV (888), Mississippi (892), Hawaii-Hilo (896), Texas A&M (296-291-310=897), Oregon State (899), Rhode Island (903) and Oregon (904).
Georgia Tech’s Troy Matteson won the individual crown with rounds of 67-70-73=210, edging by one stroke Fresno State’s Nick Watney (72-68-71=211).
A&M was led by sophomore Parker Briley, who tied for 20th with rounds of 76-70-73=219. Also for the Aggies, sophomore Stephen Reed tied for 59th at 75-71-79=225, senior Sean Gilliland tied for 73rd at 72-75-81=228, freshman Tyler Garrett tied for 83rd at 73-79-77=229 and freshman Rand Arbuckle tied for 106th at 77-75-83=235.
“We were disappointed with our final round because we had a chance for a high finish against a great field of teams,” A&M coach J.T. Higgins said. “The wind really blew hard today and everybody’s scores were higher, but a decent round would have moved us up considerably. We’ll take some positives from this and try to build on it for the rest of the spring season.”