March 20, 2004
Senior David Tasker carded his second straight two-under-par 70 on Saturday to lead the Texas A&M men's golf team into a tie for sixth place after the two rounds of the prestigious Hall of Fame Invitational at Redstone Golf Club. The final round will be played on Sunday.
The Aggies struggled early in Saturday's round and were eight-over-par through eight holes, but rallied to post a three-over-par 291 for a two-round total of two-under-par 574.
"We got off to a terrible start, but we battled back hard and stayed in contention to have a great tournament," A&M coach J.T. Higgins said. "We're looking forward to the final round and we have a chance to get some wins against some nationally-ranked teams."
No. 20-ranked Arizona leads the tournament with a 16-under-par total of 277-283=560, just one stroke ahead of No. 7 Texas (561). No. 10 Oklahoma State is in third (567), followed by No. 17 New Mexico (570), No. 23 Oklahoma (570), A&M (283-291=574), No. 8 TCU (574), No. 6 Arizona State (575), No. 16 Arkansas (577), No. 11 UNLV (581), No. 9 Minnesota (583), Francis Marion (586), Rice (590), East Tennessee State (598), Houston (599), Sweden (604) and Averitt College (653).
Tasker is tied for seventh in the individual standings with a four-under-par total of 70-70=140, eight strokes behind leader Chris Nallen of Arizona (66-66=132). Five players are tied for second at 139.
A&M junior David Schultz is tied for 14th with a 70-72=142 total. Also for the Aggies, sophomore Andrew Parr is tied for 34th (71-74=145), senior Stephen Reed is tied for 47th (72-75=147) and freshman Tyler Kief is in 92nd (79-85=164).
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