September 12, 2002
The Texas A&M men's golf team will compete in the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate Friday and Saturday at the University of New Mexico's Championship Golf Course.
The tournament will consist of 36 holes on Friday and 18 holes on Saturday for a 54-hole total on the par-72, 7,248-yard layout.
In addition to A&M, the 17-team field will consist of Arizona, Air Force, BYU, Colorado State. Colorado, UNLV, New Mexico, New Mexico State, Oregon State, Pepperdine, San Diego State, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Texas-El Paso, Utah and Wyoming.
Representing A&M will be junior David Tasker, junior Stephen Reed, senior Shaun Helmle, freshman Mike Rim and junior Parker Briley. Junior Mark Schultz will play as an individual.
The Aggies opened their season with a seventh-place finish last weekend at The International Collegiate in St. Andrews, Scotland. Tasker tied for 10th in his college debut with rounds of 72-73-72=217 while Reed, the team's top scorer the last two years, tied for 28th at 81-71-75=227. Rim, a former American Junior Golf Association All-American, is making his college debut in New Mexico.
"It will be interesting to see how we play," A&M coach J.T. Higgins said. "This is a great test for our team to play against such a strong field. The course is always set up in a challenging manner, with fast greens and very thick rough. We saw some good things in Scotland and we hope to continue our improvement in New Mexico."
The Aggies finished 14th last season at the Tucker, which was won by tournament host New Mexico. Higgins came to A&M in 2001 after four seasons as head coach at New Mexico.