April 28, 2005
Texas A&M will play host to the 2005 Big 12 Men Golf Championships Friday through Sunday at Whispering Pines Golf Club in Trinity. The Aggies hope to challenge for their first conference title since 1987.
The tournament will consist of 18 holes each day for a total of 54 holes. The top four individual scores will count toward each day's team score. Play will begin at 8 a.m. each day.
In addition to No. 36-ranked A&M, the field will include No. 1 Oklahoma State, No. 19 Texas, No. 25 Texas Tech, No. 33 Kansas, No. 34 Oklahoma, No. 44 Baylor, No. 67 Missouri, No. 72 Kansas State, No. 79 Colorado, No. 123 Nebraska and No. 160 Iowa State.
A&M's lineup is made up of one senior, two juniors and two true freshmen. Junior Andrew Parr and freshman Robert Gates have played in all 11 tournaments, while junior Jerad Harklau has played in 10, senior David Schultz has appeared in eight and freshman Martin Piller has played in seven.
Thirteen Big 12 players are ranked among the top 100 nationally by Golfweek, led by No. 4 Pablo Martin and No. 5 Tyler Leon, both of Oklahoma State. Other top 25 players in the field are Texas Matt Rosenfeld (No. 11), Oklahoma State's Zack Robinson (No. 16) and Oklahoma's Anthony Kim (No. 21).
"This is what we have been practicing and working hard for all year," A&M coach J.T. Higgins said. "Everything up to this point has been in preparation for the postseason and we are really excited to tee it up. Whispering Pines is a fantastic golf course and we know the competition will be tough. We have worked hard the past week to prepare especially on our wedges and short game and I think we are ready to go."
The Aggies have finished in the top 10 in all 11 tournaments this season, including four top 5 efforts. The Aggies tied for second at the Barona Collegiate Cup in the fall, and finished fourth at the prestigious Hall of Fame Invitational in Houston in late March.
The Aggies also posted a 2-2 record en route to a fourth place showing at the Hooters Match Play Championship last fall, knocking off then-No. 1-ranked Georgia (3 and 2) and Georgia State (4 and 1) before losing to Oklahoma State (4 and 1) and Texas (3 and 2).
A&M's 285-278-278=841 score at the Barona Cup was the lowest 54-hole score in school history. The rounds of 278 tied for the fourth best in school annals. The Aggies again posted back-to-back rounds of 278 to close the Hall of Fame event, finishing with an 848 total that was the fourth best on the school chart.
"At times this year, we have been able to compete with just about anyone but for us to win the Big 12, we will have to string three good rounds together, stay mentally tough and show up ready to compete from the first hole to the 54th hole," Higgins said.
All five players in A&M's lineup have shown the ability to shoot low numbers with each player recording at least one sub-70 round this season. Parr and Harklau have career bests of 65, while Schultz's best is a 67, Gate's has had a 68 and Piller has shot a 69.
Parr has had an outstanding season, playing in all 11 tournaments. He leads the team with a 72.72 stroke average, best by an Aggie since All-American Anthony Rodriguez posted a 72.1 average in 1994-95, and has posted six top-25 finishes and three top 10s.
Parr finished third at the Barona Collegiate Cup last fall with a score of 70-67-67=204, the third best total in school history and the best by an Aggie since Jeff Maggert shot 203 to win the 1986 Morris Williams. His final round 65 in Hawaii tied school single round record shared with four other players, including current PGA TOUR members Maggert, Ryan Palmer and Danny Briggs.
Last year in Hutchinson, Kan., A&M posted a score of 295 -- the third-best score of day -- in the final round but finished 10th at Prairie Dunes Country Club. The Aggies were in 11th after opening with rounds of 304-305=609.
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. The Longhorns' Jason Hartwick won the individual crown by nine strokes with a six-under-par total of 70-66-68=204.
Parr led the Aggies' final-round rally with an even-par 70, tying for the third best of the day. Schultz also had a strong finish with a two-over-par 72. 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).
Four schools have won Big 12 titles. Oklahoma State (1997, 1998, 2000) and Texas (2002, 2003, 2004) have won three crowns while Kansas (1999) and Baylor (2001) also have captured the title.
No player has won the individual crown twice. OSU has had four individual champions (Leif Westerberg in 1997, Charles Howell in 2000, Anders Hultman in 2002 and Hunter Mahan in 2003), Texas had has two (David Gossett in 1999 and Jason Hartwick in 2004), and Oklahoma (Hunter Haas in 1998) and Baylor (Worth Williams in 2001) each 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. A&M has had the fourth most team titles among Big 12 schools and has captured the third most individual crowns.
Ranked among the top four courses in Texas by The Dallas Morning News and Golf Digest, Whispering Pines Golf Club measures 7,330 yards and plays to a par of 72. The club opened in 2000 and will play host to the third Spirit International Amateur in October. Goilf Digest ranked Whispering Pines as the third best new private course in America in 2000.
Live results will be available on Texas A&M's official website at www.AggieAthletics.com and at www.golfstat.com.
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