May 15, 2003
The Texas A&M men's golf team struggled to an opening round of 296 on Thursday and is tied for 24th place at the NCAA Central Regional at Colbert Hills Golf Course.
The second round will be played Friday, followed by the final round on Saturday.
The top 10 teams will advance to the NCAA Championships May 27-30 in Stillwater, Okla. Although they are near the bottom of the team standings, the Aggies trail 10th-place Arkansas by only 10 strokes.
"We'll have to play some good golf the next two days to advance," A&M coach J.T. Higgins said. "The bottom part of our lineup kept us from shooting outselves out of it. We need to come out with some intensity tomorrow and be ready to play."
A&M's top two seeds, juniors Stephen Reed and David Tasker, each carded five-over-par 77s, but the Aggies postseason hopes were saved by senior Shaun Helmle, junior Parker Briley and freshman Andrew Parr.
Briley, who tied the school record with a second-round 64 last week at The Maxwell Intercollegiate, fired a steady even-par 72, while Helmle added a 73 and Parr carded a 74.
Helmle endured a bizarre round in which he posted six birdies, seven bogeys and just five pars. He chipped in twice to account for two of the birdies.
"It was a rollercoaster round," Helmle said. "I hit the ball great and chipped in twice, but it seemed like if I wasn't making birdies, I was making bogeys. It was crazy."
No. 21-ranked Illinois carded a 13-under-par 275 to lead the team standings, two strokes better than second-place SMU (277). Kentucky is in third at 280, followed by No. 9 North Carolina (283), No. 19 North Carolina State (283), No. 5 Oklahoma State (285), North Texas (285), No. 4 Texas (285), Lamar (285), No. 20 Arkansas (286), No. 14 Minnesota (287), Kansas State (287), No. 8 TCU (287), Northwestern (287), Baylor (289), Michigan State (289), Wichita State (290), Tulsa (291), Kent State (291), No. 24 Oklahoma (292), Ohio State (293), Toledo (295), Kansas (295), Texas A&M (296), Texas Tech (296), Wright State (297) and Missouri (298).
North Carolina State's Jason Moon leads the individual standings after a six-under-par 66, one stroke better than a group of four players with 67s.
"Our backs are to the wall now," said Helmle, the Aggies' lone senior. "I don't want to end my career on a bad note."
-30-