May 18, 2005
The Texas A&M men's golf team will contend for its second straight berth at nationals at the NCAA Central Regional Thursday through Saturday at Notre Dame's Warren Golf Course.
The top 10 teams and six individuals from each of the three regionals will advance to the NCAA Championships June 1-4 at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mill, Md. The West Regional is in Stanford, Calif., and the East Regional is in Nashville, Tenn.
"We are very excited to be headed back to the Notre Dame and the Central Regional," A&M Coach J.T. Higgins said. "We know we are capable and now it is just a matter of executing. When we play to our abilities, we can compete with anyone. If we do that, we will be heading back to the national championships later this month."
The regional 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 7:12 a.m. each day.
In addition to No. 38-ranked A&M, the 27-team field includes No. 1 Oklahoma State, No. 8 Augusta State, No. 9 TCU, No. 11 Kentucky, No. 19 Texas, No. 21 Michigan State, No. 24 Minnesota, No. 29 SMU, No. 30 Oklahoma, No. 31 Purdue, No. 32 Texas Tech, No. 33 Kent State, No. 35 Tulsa, No. 36 Kansas, No. 37 Xavier, No. 45 Arkansas, No. 47 Baylor, No. 49 Wichita State, Notre Dame, Lamar, Missouri, Kansas State, IUPUI, Jackson State, Detroit and Loyola (Md.).
The field features 36 players ranked among the top 100 nationally by Golfweek, led by No. 5 Pablo Martin and No. 7 Tyler Leon of Oklahoma State. Other top 10 players in the field are Oklahoma's Anthony Kim (No. 9) and Kentucky's John Holmes (No. 10).
Co-designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, The Warren Golf Course measures 7,011 yards and plays to a par of 70. It was rated among the nation's best new courses in 2000 and is ranked among the top 40 public fee courses in the country.
The Aggies finished fourth at last year's Central Regional in West Lafayette, Ind., advancing to nationals for the first time since 1997.
Only two players return from that team -- junior Andrew Parr and senior David Schultz. Junior Jerad Harklau played in last year's regional for SMU, while true freshmen Bobby Gates and Martin Piller are making their first appearances.
"The Warren Course is an outstanding test of golf and I think it fits our team very well," Higgins said. "I also like the fact that we were successful in last year's regional and that seems to have given our team a lot of confidence this year."
A&M is coming off a fifth-place finish in its last outing at the Big 12 Men's Golf Championships earlier this month.
The Aggies opened their fall season in September at the Notre Dame Invitational at the Warren Golf Course, tying for seventh place. Gates carded a final-round two-over-par 72 and finished fourth in his college debut. Piller tied for 19th, Parr tied for 14th and Harklau tied for 68th. Schultz did not play.
A&M has played in 14 NCAA regionals in 17 years since regional play began in 1989. The Aggies have advanced through regional play to the NCAA Championships three times, finishing 21st in 1996, 13th in 1997 and 14th last season.
A&M won the NCAA Central Regional in 1996 in Ann Arbor, Mich., placed third in 1997 and finished fourth in 2004. A&M has narrowly missed NCAA berths several times, finishing 11th at regionals in 1993, 12th in 1994, 11th in 1998 and 13th in 2000 and 2001. Overall, A&M has competed in 22 NCAA Championships since its first team appearance in 1955.