April 27, 2004
Texas A&M posted a score of 295 -- the third-best score of day -- on Tuesday and finished 10th at the Big 12 Men's Golf Championships at Prairie Dunes Country Club.
The Aggies were in 11th after opening with rounds of 304-305=609 on Monday, leading only Nebraska. But A&M rallied past Missouri in the final round and finished with a 904 total.
No. 7-ranked Texas won its third straight conference title with a 287-290-287=864 total, finishing six strokes ahead of No. 23 Oklahoma (870), which closed with a three-over-par 283, the best round of the tournament. No. 8 Oklahoma State (873) led with nine holes left to play, but struggled on the final nine and finished third.
"Today's round was a lot more indicative of how we can play," A&M coach J.T. Higgins said. "It seems like we have to get our backs to the wall before we rise to the challenge. We need to play like this from the start. You can't spot that many shots to good teams."
The Longhorns' Jason Hartwick won the individual crown by nine strokes with a six-under-par total of 70-66-68=204. Oklahoma's Anthony Kim was second at 76-70-67=213.
Host Kansas State finished fourth (881), followed by Colorado (893), No. 24 Kansas (893), Texas Tech (893), Iowa State (894), Baylor (895), A&M (904), Missouri (920) and Nebraska (926).
Sophomore Andrew Parr led the Aggies' final-round rally with an even-par 70, tying for the third best of the day. Parr had three birdies and three bogeys, including a two-putt birdie on the par-5 7th hole. He belted his drive a whopping 367 yards, then hit a wedge to 35 feet. His eagle putt slid past the hole but he tapped in for an easy birdie.
"I will take an even-par round on this course any day," Parr said. "Unlike the first day, I didn't make any big numbers. My putting is my strongest asset and it was awful yesterday. I made some adjustments and made more putts today."
A&M junior David Schultz also had a strong finish with a two-over-par 72 that included two birdies and four bogeys. He chipped in for a birdie on the par-4 3rd hole.
"I just wanted to be patient today, hit the ball on the greens and make pars," Schultz said. "When I chipped in on three, it got me started a little. I really just played a little smarter today."
Schultz finished tied for 16th with a 73-77-72=222 total, while sophomore Rand Arbuckle tied for 29th (75-74-76=225), Parr tied for 40th (81-77-70=228), senior David Tasker tied for 47th (77-77-77=231) and senior Stephen Reed placed 56th (79-81-77=237).
Arbuckle, who led A&M through two rounds, was even-par before suffering a quadruple-bogey eight on the par-4 13th. His tee shot strayed right of the fairway into thick rough and, after a five-minute search, the ball was declared lost. It was located moments later, but a USGA official said the ball was found after time had expired and Arbuckle was forced to accept the stroke-and distance penalty.
"I was really happy with Parr and Schultz as well as Rand," Higgins said. "Rand had a bad break but stayed in there and battled. If we can get Tasker and Reed going before regionals, we'll be okay. But when your top two guys struggle, the team will have a hard time."
Regional bids will be announced on Monday. The Aggies expect to be invited to the NCAA Central Regional May 20-22 in West Lafayette, Ind.
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2004 Big 12 Men's Golf Championship
Hutchinson, Kan.
Prairie Dunes Country Club
6,596 yards, par 70
April 26-27
Final Results
1. Texas, 287-290-287=864
2. Oklahoma, 295-292-283=870
3. Oklahoma State, 292-285-296=873
4. Kansas State, 290-289-302=881
T5. Colorado, 295-301-297=893
T5. Kansas, 291-301-301=893
T5. Texas Tech, 294-303-296=893
8. Iowa State, 296-298-300=894
9. Baylor, 299-297-299=895
10. Texas A&M, 304-305-295=904
11. Missouri, 299-301-320=920
12. Nebraska, 314-299-313=926
Individual Results
1 Jason Hartwick, Texas, 70-66-68=204
2 Anthony Kim, Oklahoma, 76-70-67=213
T3 Farren Keenan, Texas, 71-73-70=214
T3 Alex Noren, Oklahoma State, 71-68-75=214
5 Ryan Baca, Baylor, 71-73-71=215
T6 Blake Martin, Oklahoma 70-74-72=216
T6 Aaron Watkins, Kansas State, 70-71-75=216
8 Casey Wittenberg, Oklahoma State, 73-73-71=217
T9 Oscar Floren, Texas Tech, 70-74-75=219
T9 Matt VanCleave, Kansas State, 76-70-73=219
T11 Jeff Bell, Texas, 73-75-72=220
T11 Carlos Del Moral, Oklahoma, 73-75-72=220
T13 Jeremy Alcorn, Baylor, 74-71-76=221
T13 A.J. Elgert, Kansas State, 69-74-78=221
T13 Martin Flores, Oklahoma, 76-73-72=221
T16 Kenny Coakley, Colorado, 74-74-74=222
T16 Tyler Leon, Oklahoma State, 71-76-75=222
T16 David Schultz, Texas A&M, 73-77-72=222
19 Tyler Swanson, Iowa State, 75-76-72=223
T20 Chris Clarke, Oklahoma State, 78-71-75=224
T20 Judd Cornell, Nebraska, 75-75-74=224
T20 Tyler Docking, Kansas, 73-75-76=224
T20 Andrew Dresser, Texas Tech, 72-77-75=224
T20 Tyler Hall, Kansas, 72-78-74=224
T20 Jeff Hanson, Colorado, 75-76-73=224
T20 Edward McGlasson, Colorado, 73-74-77=224
T20 Kevin Ward, Kansas, 77-74-73=224
T20 Kane Webber, Colorado, 73-77-74=224
T29 Jon Antunes Baylor, 76-73-76=225
T29 Rand Arbuckle, Texas A&M, 75-74-76=225
T29 Drew Dalziel, Iowa State, 75-74-76=225
T29 Curtis Foster, Iowa State, 71-78-76=225
T29 William Haddrell, Texas Tech, 77-75-73=225
T29 Andrew Price, Kansas, 72-75-78=225
35 Jeremy Lyons, Iowa State, 75-70-81=226
T36 Tim Moody, Kansas State, 75-74-78=227
T36 Zack Robinson, Oklahoma State, 77-73-77=227
T36 Matthew Rosenfeld, Texas, 73-77-77=227
T36 Ben Scott, Missouri, 76-76-75=227
T40 Ben Kern, Kansas State, 77-75-76=228
T40 Andrew Parr, Texas A&M, 81-77-70=228
T42 Chris Mabry, Missouri, 74-74-81=229
T42 Chris Pace, Texas Tech, 76-80-73=229
T42 Gary Woodland, Kansas, 74-77-78=229
T45 Blake Moore, Colorado, 75-79-76=230
T45 JJ Sullivan, Nebraska, 80-76-74=230
T47 Paul Huddle, Iowa State, 76-79-76=231
T47 Shaun Melville, Texas Tech, 76-77-78=231
T47 David Tasker, Texas A&M, 77-77-77=231
50 Doug Manor, Oklahoma, 78-77-77=232
51 Rusty Kennedy, Texas, 77-76-80=233
T52 Tom Bethel, Nebraska, 79-75-80=234
T52 Jeremy Frye, Baylor, 78-80-76=234
T52 David Jenkins, Missouri, 75-79-80=234
55 John Kelly, Missouri, 74-78-84=236
56 Stephen Reed, Texas A&M, 79-81-77=237
57 Michael Radek, Missouri, 80-73-85=238
58 Chris Hartwig, Nebraska, 83-73-85=241
59 Drew Reynolds, Nebraska, 80-79-87=246
60 Will Doughtie, Baylor, 80-86-87=253