March 10, 2003
Texas A&M junior Stephen Reed carded a six-under-par total of 68-70=138 and is one stroke out of the lead after Monday's opening two rounds of the Louisiana Classics at Oakbourne Country Club.
Reed's effort paced a solid team performance by the Aggies, who are in third place after scores of 290-284=574 on the par 72, 7,002-yard golf course. The tournament concludes with a final 18 holes on Tuesday.
Tulsa's David Inglis leads the individual standings at 70-67=137, one stroke ahead of Reed, who is alone in second place. Baylor's Ryan Baca is in third at 70-70=140.
SMU leads the team standings after rounds of 281-287=568, four strokes better than second-place Tulsa's 295-277=572. A&M is in third at 574, followed by Southern Mississippi (585), North Texas (586), Missouri (588), Texas Tech (588), LSU (588), Louisiana-Lafayette (589), Baylor (589), Texas-San Antonio (590), Kansas State (592), Rice (596), Colorado (598) and Kansas (600).
Reed's 36-hole score included 13 birdies, but A&M's best shot of the day may have come from senior Shaun Helmle, who holed a pitching wedge from 118 yards for an eagle on his last hole of the day, the par-4 eighth. The shot capped a one-under-par 71 for Helmle in the afternoon round.
A&M junior David Tasker is just five strokes off the lead after rounds of 72-70=142, while Helmle is tied for 14th at 72-71=143. Also for A&M, junior Parker Briley is tied for 53rd at 78-73=151 and freshman Andrew Parr is tied for 77th at 78-79=157.
"I couldn't be happier with how we played today," A&M coach J. T. Higgins said. "We showed a lot of patience and stayed with our game plan. This course demands patience. We never got greedy and just took what the course gave us. Stephen played fantastic golf, especially in the morning round. The other guys played well, too, especially David and Shaun. They were very steady all day. Parker came back strong in the second round with a good score as well."
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