February 11, 2003
The Texas A&M men's golf team opens its spring season at the 13th Annual Taylor Made Waikaloa Intercollegiate Wednesday through Friday at the Waikaloa Resort Kings' Golf Course.
The tournament will consist of 18 holes each day for a total of 54 holes.
A&M will be represented by junior David Tasker, junior Stephen Reed, senior Shaun Helmle, freshman Andrew Parr and junior Parker Briley.
In addition to A&M, the 24-team field includes Air Force, Arizona State, Arkansas, Baylor, Fresno State, Georgia Tech, Hawaii-Hilo, Hawaii, Houston, Kansas, Lamar, Mississippi, Nagoya, Nevada-Reno, Oklahoma, Oregon, Oregon State, Pepperdine, Rhode Island, Southern California, Stanford, TCU, Texas Tech, UCLA and Washington.
"We are very excited to get started this spring," said second-year A&M coach J.T. Higgins. "Hawaii is always a great trip and this year the field is fantastic and includes several good teams from our district. We really need to play well to beat these teams, but I think we have gained a lot of confidence since the beginning of the year and we are ready for the challenge. If we play to our capabilities we should be just fine."
Tasker led the Aggies in the fall season with a 72.58 scoring average, followed by Helmle at 74.92 and Reed at 74.93. Tasker, Reed, Helmle and Parr each had at least one top 10 finish in the fall, while Briley led the team last year in Hawaii with a career-best tie for 20th place.