February 20, 2006
The No. 18-ranked Texas A&M men's golf team will compete in the John Burns Intercollegiate Wednesday through Friday at Leilehua Golf Club.
The tournament will consist of 18 holes each day for a total of 54 holes on the 6,917-yard, par-71 course.
In addition to A&M, the 21-team field includes No. 5 BYU, No. 7 UNLV, No. 23 San Diego State, No. 24 Arizona, No. 25 New Mexico, Denver, UTEP, Fresno State, Colorado State, San Jose State, Hawaii-Hilo, Nagoya, Hawaii-Manoa, Nevada, Auburn, UC Santa Barbara, California, Utah and Long Beach State.
Representing A&M will be seniors Andrew Parr and Jerad Harklau, freshman Bronson Burgoon, and sophomores Robert Gates and Trey Todd.
The Aggies opened their spring schedule with a seventh-place finish at the Arizona Intercollegiate in late January.
"We have a lot of room for improvement after our last outing but the players have worked very hard over the last couple of weeks, especially on their short games and wedges," A&M coach J.T. Higgins said. "Leilahua is a course where it takes very low scores to compete and I think that with our length and touch around the greens, we should be right in the hunt.
"The kids love this tournament, not just because they are playing in paradise but because it really lends itself to lots of birdie opportunities and low scores," Higgins added. "Obviously, with such a great field on hand, we will have to play some outstanding golf but we are determined to show that we are the same team that had such great success in the fall and that we can compete with the elite teams in the nation."