September 09, 2002
The Texas A&M men's golf team fired a final round of five-over-par 293 on Saturday and finished seventh at the inaugural International Collegiate at St. Andrews Bay Resort. The event included six college teams from the United States and five squads from Great Britain and was the first NCAA-sanctioned tgolf tournament played in Europe.
The Aggies were a blazing eight-under-par midway through the final round, but ballooned to 13-over-par on the back nine.
"We are a very young, inexperienced team and as we mature I know we will finish these rounds off," A&M coach J.T. Higgins said. "I am excited about the season to come because I saw a lot of raw talent and potential this week. It's just a matter of time before the results fall into place."
Junior David Tasker led the Aggies, tying for 10th place in the individual standings with a one-over-par total of 73-72-73=217. Other A&M scores were freshman Pansing Singhaseni at 83-73-71=227, junior Stephen Reed at 81-71-75=227, sophomore Tyler Garrett at 78-73-76=227 and freshman Andrew Parr at 85-72-75=232.
"David Tasker played terrific golf for us this week and showed why we believe he can become one of the best players Texas A&M has seen in some time," Higgins said. "He worked hard this week on his putting and it paid off. He was also strong off the tee and really took advantage of the par fives. If he keeps working hard on his short game and learns to keep his frustration level in check, he will have a fantastic year."
Wake Forest won the tournament with rounds of 286-290-284=860, nine strokes ahead of runner-up R & A Bursars (869). North Carolina was third at 870, followed by Stirling University (878), BUSA Select (878), Texas Tech (895), A&M (314-289-293=896), Wofford (905), St. Andrews (905), Georgia Southern (915) and Oxford-Cambridge (976).
North Carolina's Dustin Bray won the individual title with rounds of 72-68-68=208, eight-under-par on the par-72, 7,017-yard Torrance Course. Wake Forest's Brent Wanner finished second at 72-70-68=210. The Aggies continue their fall season at the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate Friday and Saturday in Albuquerque, N.M.