September 30, 2002
Senior Shaun Helmle carded opening rounds of 74-71=145 in windy conditions on Monday and is in second place at the Jim Colbert Intercollegiate at Colbert Hills Golf Course.
With wind gusts reaching 40 miles-per-hour on the lengthy 7,525-yard, par-72 layout, only individual leader Aaron Watkins of Kansas State managed to match par with rounds of 72-72=144, one stroke ahead of Helmle. Three players are five strokes behind Helmle at six-over-par 150 going into Tuesday's final round.
As a team, the Aggies struggled to 323 in the morning round and were in last place, but rallied with a 300 in the afternoon round to climb into a tie for sixth place in the 12-team field with a 623 total. The Aggies' five-player lineup includes three true freshman.
SMU leads the team standings after posting rounds of 307-297=604, 11 strokes ahead of second-place Lamar 314-301=615. Host Kansas State is in third at 317-301=618, followed by Toledo (322-297=619), Nebraska (310-310=620), A&M (623), Colorado (313-310=623), Missouri (312-312=624), Tulsa (312-316=628), Rice (317-321=638), Texas-San Antonio (321-319=640) and Louisiana-Lafayette (320-321=641).
Also for the Aggies, freshman Mike Rim is tied for 38th at 81-78=159, junior Stephen Reed is tied for 44th at 89-73=162, freshman Andrew Parr is tied for 47th at 79-84=163 and freshman Pansing Singhaseni is tied for 60th at 89-78=167.
"I was really proud of the way we came back in the afternoon round," A&M coach J.T. Higgins said. "The course was set up very difficult and along with the weather made it very tough. We didn't handle it well in the morning, but we didn't get down on ourselves and let it affect us in the afternoon. We battled back and gave ourselves a chance to competefor a good finish."