March 18, 2003
The Texas A&M men's golf team carded a final-round 298 on Tuesday and finished 13th at the 37th Annual Morris Williams Intercollegiate at Austin Country Club.
Oklahoma State junior Hunter Mahan led the No. 10-ranked Cowboys to a come-from-behind victory in the team race, winning the individual title with rounds of 68-69-65=202. Mahan's effort broke the tournament's 54-hole scoring record of 203 set by A&M's Jeff Maggert's in 1986.
Texas' J.J. Wall finished second to Mahan in the individual race with a 12-under-par 204 (65-69-70), four strokes ahead of the rest of the field.
Oklahoma State's 54-hole total of 842 (-22) tied the tournament record set by Houston in 1984 and edged No. 5-ranked Texas (277-279-287=843) by just one stroke.
No. 2 UNLV finished third at 858, followed by TCU (863), Arizona State (865), No. 20 Arkansas (871), Tulsa (872), No. 14 Georgia Tech (873), Baylor (876), No. 19 Pepperdine (876), Southern California (877), Fresno State (878), Texas A&M (287-294-298=879), BYU (881), No. 15 New Mexico (882), Oklahoma (884), North Florida (884) and Houston (894).
Junior Stephen Reed led the Aggies, tying for 28th place with a two-over-par total of 72-70-76=218, while junior David Tasker tied for 34th at 69-78-72=219. Also for A&M, freshman Andrew Parr tied for 58th with rounds of 77-70-77=224, junior Parker Briley tied for 61st at 70-76-79=225 and senior Shaun Helmle tied for 71st at 76-79-73=228.
"We played good golf for 45 holes but slipped up on the back nine today and that really cost us," A&M coach J.T. Higgins. "Overall, I'm happy with our performance. With nine holes to play, we had a chance for a top five finish against a great field. We'll learn from this and next time we get in that position, we'll know better how to handle it.
"We get closer every tournament," Higgins added. "We can't be too disappointed with how we finished. Last year, we wouldn't have even had a chance and this year we were sniffing the top five."
In finishing ahead of New Mexico, Higgins beat his former school for the first time since he came to A&M from New Mexico in 2001.
The Aggies play host to the 52nd Annual Border Olympics April 4-5 in Laredo.
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