May 22, 2004
For most of the spring golf season, Texas A&M's Stephen Reed has been searching for the swing that earned him All-Big 12 honors as a junior but had left him struggling as a senior.
Reed found his game in the nick of time at the NCAA Central Regional, extending his college career and the Aggies' season for one more tournament -- the NCAA Men's Golf Championships June 1-4 in Hot Springs, Va.
Reed and fellow senior David Tasker each carded three-over-par 75s in high winds in Saturday's final round, leading the Aggies to a fourth-place finish and earning them a spot at nationals for the first time since 1997.
A&M looked like anything but contenders for an NCAA berth at last month's Big 12 Championships, where the Aggies finished a disappointing 10th. Reed finished 56th at the conference tournament, beating just four other players, but he carded rounds of 74-72-75=221 to tie for eighth at regionals.
"This is beautiful," Reed said. "It's a dream come true for me. For the last three years, I've always been on the outside looking in when it came to NCAAs. I've been struggling so long that this season seemed like a failure to me. But if you make it to nationals, nothing else really matters. This was my last go-around and it was all I really cared about."
With winds gusting more than 40 miles-per-hour at the Kampen Course at Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex, no team came close to matching par on the rugged 7,259-yard, par-72 layout.
The Aggies are among 10 teams to advance from the Central Regional to the NCAA Championships. No. 22-ranked Kentucky captured the team title with a 54-hole total of 882 (+18), while No. 8 Oklahoma State finished second (893). Rounding out the top 10 were No. 17 Oklahoma (896), A&M, No. 9 Texas (901), No. 10 TCU (901), host Purdue (905), Wichita State (908), SMU (909) and Kent State (910).
"This is just awesome," Tasker said. "This is what we worked so hard for all year. We struggled all semester and I'm not sure why, because we have a lot of talent on this team. But it doesn't matter now because we're going to nationals."
Failing to advance were No. 13 Minnesota (911), Notre Dame (914), Texas Tech (917), Ohio State (918), Kansas State (923), No. 25 Kansas (926), No. 23 Arkansas (931), Illinois (933), Tulsa (933), Lamar (934), Indiana (934), Colorado (934), Xavier (940), Western Illinois (958), Baylor (961), Princeton (974) and Jackson State (1,000).
"We are just ecstatic," A&M coach J.T. Higgins said. "It's been a long time since A&M has been to nationals and these guys have worked so hard. We struggled this spring but making it to nationals makes this a great year. Our seniors stepped up big today and I can't tell you how proud I am of them. Stephen played great all week and David overcame a rough start, hung in there and played with a lot of heart."
Sophomore Andrew Parr finished sixth in the individual standings with a 69-74-76=219 total, five shots behind champion John Holmes of Kentucky, who posted a two-under-par total of 73-70-71=214. SMU's Will Dodson placed second at 72-73-71=216.
Tasker tied for 38th (75-79-75=229), while sophomore Rand Arbuckle tied for 51st (74-79-78=231) and junior David Schultz tied for 77th (77-78-79=234).
"The conditions were brutal today," Higgins said. "It was hot, sunny and very windy. And the course was set up extremely tough. Our guys fought for every shot out there. We knew the scores would be high and we thought if we shot around 300 we'd be in good shape. I started to get a little nervous when we were about 14-over-par, but then we started making pars and had a few birdies."
Reed bogeyed two of his first three holes, but made a 15-foot birdie putt on his fourth hole to go back to one-over. He got back to even-par with another 15-foot birdie on the sixth hole, but took a double-bogey on the eighth when his approach shot took a bad bounce off the green and into heavy rough. Reed played the last 10 holes in one-over with nine pars.
"I hit a lot of fairways and had a lot of really solid shots," Reed said. "The double-bogey was kind of fluky. It seemed like we were shooting a high score as a team, but as windy as it was I didn't think many people would go low. I just concentrated on making pars."
Tasker was three-over through eight holes, but then parred eight straight holes. He posted his only birdie of the day on the par-4 8th (his 17th hole), sinking a 10-foot birdie putt. He bogeyed the last hole, but by then the Aggies had staked their claim.
"I had a couple of early three-putts and I was starting to feel the pressure," Tasker said. "But I stayed determined and dug deep. I just tried to stay calm inside and fire at the middle of the greens. I thought if I kept with my game plan I'd be okay."
Qualifying for the NCAA Championships from the West Regional in Sunriver, Ore., were UCLA, New Mexico, Arizona, Arizona State, BYU, Southern California, Toledo, California, Pepperdine and Washington. Advancing from the East Regional in New Haven, Conn., were Clemson, Penn State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Florida, Auburn, Georgia State, Rhode Island, Vanderbilt and North Carolina.
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