March 17, 2006
The No. 16 Texas A&M men?â„¢s golf team is tied for eighth after the first round of the Hall of Fame Invitational on Friday at the Redstone Golf Club.
The Aggies carded a 308 and stand in a four-way tie with TCU, Arizona and Georgia. Texas grabbed the first-round lead with a five over par 293 and was one shot ahead of second-ranked Oklahoma State going into Saturday?â„¢s second round.
?We struggled early in the round, but I was proud of the way we hung in there,? Aggie head coach J.T. Higgins said. ?We got some shots back on the back nine and that put in the middle of the pack with a lot of golf to be played. The good news is that I don?â„¢t think we can play any worse than we did today. The golf course is set up like a (PGA) tour course, so it was a real challenge.?
Pacing the Aggies was freshman Bronson Burgoon, who is in a tie for seventh place with a first-round total of 73 (+7). He is six shots behind leader Anthony Kim of Oklahoma, who fired a five-under 67.
?Bronson Burgoon had a very good round,? Higgins said. ?He finished one over for the day and that?â„¢s with back to back double bogeys in the middle of his round. He didn?â„¢t let those bother him and stayed steady through the round.?
Rounding out the scores for the Aggies were Robert Gates (t13th, 74), Andrew Parr (t49th, 79), Jerad Harklau (t84th, 82) and Martin Piller (t88th, 84).
The Aggies tee off on Saturday at 7:30 a.m. and are grouped with Purdue and Texas.