March 01, 2002
The Texas A&M men's golf team will compete in the Coastal Carolina Invitational Monday and Tuesday at the Grand Dunes Resort.
The tournament will consist of 36 holes on Monday and a final 18 holes on Tuesday for a total of 54 holes on the lengthy par-72, 7,618-yard layout, which rates as one of the country's toughest courses.
In addition to A&M, the 17-team field consists of Belmont Abbey, Furman, Idaho, SMU, Vanderbilt, Wofford, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, Mississippi, Southern Mississippi, Virginia Commonwealth, Washington State, East Carolina, Georgia State, Old Dominion and Virginia Tech.
The Aggies will be represented by sophomore Stephen Reed, freshman Tyler Garrett, sophomore Parker Briley, senior Sean Gilliland and junior Dwayne Morley.
"We are very excited to be a part of this inaugural event," A&M coach J.T. Higgins said. "It should be a great tournament played on a fantastic golf course. It should also be a great opportunity for us to break out and have a good finish. The field is not quite as tough as Hawaii was, but their are some very good teams including Virginia Tech and SMU, both ranked very high this season. We are going to focus hard on playing conservative and keeping our mistakes and big numbers to a minimum. It is not the team that makes the most birdies that usually wins, but the team that makes the least mistakes."
The Aggies opened their sprong season with a 17th-place finish at the 24-team Taylor Made Waikoloa Intercollegiate Feb. 14-15 in Waikoloa, Hawai'i.