April 30, 2005
Texas A&M battled through cold, wet conditions to card a 299 on Saturday, climbing to fourth place after two rounds of the Big 12 Men's Golf Championships at Whispering Pines Golf Club.
The start of play was delayed for almost two hours because of heavy thunderstorms. Play again was halted at late morning for another 45 minutes. Temperatures hovered in the mid-40s most of the day with wind gusts in excess of 20 miles per hour on the par-72, 7,330-yard course.
Top-ranked Oklahoma State leads with a 285-296=581 total, followed by Oklahoma (588), Missouri (592), A&M (303-299=602), Kansas (607), Texas Tech (609), Baylor (611), Kansas State (614), Nebraska (615), Texas (616), Iowa State (620) and Colorado (630).
"The conditions were pretty tough and it was about 20 degrees cooler than on Friday," A&M coach J.T. Higgins said. "I was proud of how our team battled and fought all day. They looked at it as a chance to make up ground and that's exactly what they did. We had a chance for a great round but we gave away some shots on the last hole."
Oklahoma's Justin Fraley (68-72=140) and Anthony Kim (69-71=140) share the individual lead at 4-under par, while Kansas State's Matt Van Cleave is a shot back at 70-71=141.
A&M was led by junior Andrew Parr, who turned in a gutsy even-par 72 despite being hampered by a nagging shoulder injury. Parr recorded seven birdies, the most of any player in the field, but his effort was offset by a trio of double bogeys. Parr is tied for seventh with a 73-72=145 total.
Parr birdied the par-5 17th to go to two-under but was wincing in pain with every swing. He mishit his approach into the water on the 18th and closed with a double bogey. As a team, A&M played the 18th in six-over-par.
"Andrew is a gutsy kid," Higgins said. "His shoulder has been bothering him all year and he's played through the pain. It was impressive what he did today, but it's no different from what's he's done all year. He's an inspiration and I know he'll give it his best tomorrow."
A&M freshman Robert Gates is tied for 12th (77-73=150), while senior David Schultz is tied for 22nd (76-77=153), junior Jerad Harklau is tied for 28th (77-77=154) and freshman Martin Piller is tied for 46th (77-81=158).
"Bobby played really well today and was fantastic off the tee," Higgins said. "And his short game was phenomenal. He definitely had an under-par round in him today, but he gave away some shots with his short irons and wedges."
The difficult conditions were reflected in average scores being 1.34 strokes higher than in Friday's opening round.
"We just want to keep getting better," Higgins said. "We want to play smarter tomorrow. If we can eliminate some of those mistakes we've been making, we can play with anyone in the country."