April 28, 2003
The Texas A&M men's golf team will challenge for its first conference title since 1987 at the 2003 Big 12 Championships Monday and Tuesday at Southern Hills Country Club.
The tournament will consist of 36 holes on Monday and a final 18 on Tuesday for a total of 54 holes. The top four individual scores from each team will count toward each day's team score. Play will begin at 8 a.m. each day.
After six years at Prairie Dunes Golf Club in Hutchinson, Kan., the Big 12 Championships will be played at a different venue for the first time. Southern Hills (par 70/2,016 yards) has been the site of 13 major golf championships, including the 2001 U.S. Open., and will be the site of the 2007 PGA Championship.
In addition to No. 67-ranked A&M, the field will include No. 3 Texas, No. 8 Oklahoma State, No. 29 Oklahoma, No. 37 Baylor, No. 53 Kansas State, No. 57 Texas Tech, No. 63 Missouri, No. 69 Kansas, No. 81 Iowa State, No. 82 Colorado, and No. 111 Nebraska.
Oklahoma State has been tabbed as the favorite in a poll of Big 12 coaches, followed by (2) Texas, (3) Oklahoma, (4) Baylor, (5) Texas A&M and Kansas State, (7) Texas Tech, (8) Missouri, (9) Kansas, (10) Colorado, (11) Iowa State and (12) Nebraska.
Ten Big 12 players are ranked among the top 100 individuals nationally by Golfweek, led by No. 2-ranked Hunter Mahan of Oklahoma State and No. 15 Jason Hartwick of Texas.
All five players in the A&M lineup have showed the ability to post low scores and four players have posted top 10 tournament finishes. Juniors David Tasker and Parker Briley have each recorded 67s, while junior Stephen Reed and freshman Andrew Parr have had 68s and senior Shaun Helmle has had a 69. Tasker leads the Aggies with 10 sub-par rounds, followed by Reed with nine, Parr with six, Helmle with five and Briley with two.
After struggling in its first three tournaments, A&M closed the fall with a second-place finish at the Adams Cup of Newport and an eighth-place showing at the Barona Collegiate Cup.
The Aggies have been inconsistent in the spring, failing to finish in the top 10 in three tournaments, but finishing third at the Louisiana Classics and winning the Border Olympics. A&M came from 16 shots down in the final round to win the Border Olympics, the largest single-round comeback in school history. Overall, A&M has posted six top-10 finishes and three top fives in 10 tournaments.
Reed is the only player in the A&M lineup with Big 12 experience. He tied for fifth as a freshman in 2001 (75-79-72=226) and tied for 23rd last year (74-76-71=221). Reed has played in all 10 tournaments this season and has posted seven top 30 finishes, including three top six performances. Reed tied for second at the Louisiana Classics and the Border Olympics, where his 209 total was the lowest 54-hole score by an Aggie in five years.
For the season, Reed ranks second on the team in scoring with a 73.27 average, but he leads the team in the spring with a 71.60 average in five tournaments.
Tasker leads the Aggies in scoring with a 73.00 average and has posted five top-25 finishes and a pair of top 10s. However, after tying for ninth at the Louisiana Classics in early March, Tasker has not finished higher than 34th in the last three tournaments.
A&M has beaten every Big 12 team this season except Texas (0-1), Oklahoma State (0-2) and Nebraska (0-1) this season. The Aggies are 3-1 against Baylor, 2-0 vs. Kansas, 2-1 vs. Kansas State, 2-3 vs. Texas Tech, 1-0 vs. Iowa State, 1-1 vs. Missouri, 1-2 vs. Oklahoma and 1-2 vs. Colorado.
"We are really excited about this year's Big 12 Championships," second-year A&M coach J.T. Higgins said. "We have had some success in the league this year and everyone on the team has improved to the point where we believe we can compete. I also like the fact that we are playing at Southern Hills, a very difficult course where we are likely to see some tough weather conditions. I think our chances are better when the course setup dictates great mental discipline as well as physical skill. The tougher the conditions, the better our chances."
Texas won its first Big 12 men's golf title last year in Hutchinson, Kan., holding off hard-charging Oklahoma State by just one stroke with a three-round score of 850. OSU's Anders Hultman closed with a 65, then beat Oklahoma's John Kidwell in a playoff for individual honors. A&M finished ninth with rounds of 300-300-289=889.
Four schools have won Big 12 titles. Oklahoma State has won three times (1997, 1998, 2000), while Kansas (1999), Baylor (2001) and Texas (2002) also have captured the crown. No player has won the individual crown twice. OSU has had three individual champions (Leif Westerberg in 1997, Charles Howell in 2000 and Anders Hultman in 2002), while Oklahoma (Hunter Haas in 1998), Texas (David Gossett in 1999) and Baylor (Worth Williams in 2001) have had one champion.
A&M has won 10 conference titles in men's golf, all in the Southwest Conference (1926, 1948, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1967, 1969, 1982, 1987). Ten A&M golfers have won individual conference titles, also all in the SWC. A&M's last individual champions were in 1995, when Anthony Rodriguez and Dru Fenimore shared the title with SMU's Jim Skinner and Houston's Lance Combrink.
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