March 17, 2003
The Texas A&M men's golf team was tied for fifth place with a score of even par when second-round play was postponed because of darkness on Monday at the Morris Williams Intercollegiate.
The Aggies will complete the second round on Tuesday morning before beginning play in the final round.
No. 5-ranked Texas, which completed its second round before darkness fell, leads the team standings after rounds of 277-279=556, 20-under-par on the par-72, 6,906-yard Austin Country Club course. No. 10 Oklahoma State is four strokes back with rounds of 280-280=560 (+16), followed by Arizona State and No. 2 UNLV, which are tied for third at 573 (+3).
The Aggies are alone in fifth place, followed by No. 20 Arkansas (+1), TCU (+1), Fresno State (+4), No.19 Pepperdine (+4), Houston (+5), Tulsa (+7), Baylor (+9), Southern California (+9), No. 14 Georgia Tech (+11), No. 15 New Mexico (+12), BYU (+15), Oklahoma (+16) and North Florida (+17).
A&M carded a one-under-par 287 in Monday's opening round, thanks to a three-under-par effort by junior David Tasker and a two-under-par 70 by junior Parker Briley.
The Aggies were one-over-par with several holes left in the second round when play was stopped for the day. A&M junior Stephen Reed, who opened with an even-par 72, was two-under-par through 13 holes.
Reed is tied for 16th in the individual standings, eight strokes behind tournament leader J.J. Wall of Texas, who is 10-under-par after rounds of 65-69=134. Texas' Jason Hartwick and Arkansas Andrew Dahl are tied for second at eight-under-par.
Briley dropped to even-par for the tournament through 15 holes in his second round and is tied for 26th, while Tasker was six-over-par in the second round through 14 holes and is tied for 46th.
A&M freshman Andrew Parr opened with a 77, but was three-under-par through 17 holes in the second round and is tied for 35th at two-over-par for the tournament.
A&M senior Shaun Helmle is tied for 66th at eight-over-par. Helmle carded a 76 in the first round.
"I'm thrilled with how our guys played today," A&M coach J.T. Higgins said. "We played with a lot of composure and maturity. In the first round, we played the last two holes in six-under-par. We were playing well in the second round when it got too dark to finish.
"We are ahead of a lot of ranked teams right now and that should give us confidence because it shows the kind of golf we are capable of playing," Higgins added.
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