May 20, 2006
Texas A&M fired a seven-over-par 292 on Saturday to finish in a tie for third place at the NCAA Men's Golf Central Regional at Sand Ridge Golf Club.
The Aggies advance to the NCAA Championship May 31-June 1 in Sunriver, Ore., making their third straight appearance in the national finals for the first time since the regional qualifying format began in 1989. A&M is one of only 15 schools in the country to advance to the NCAA Championship in each of the last three years.
"We're thrilled to be going back to nationals," A&M coach J.T. Higgins said. "That was one of our goals all year. Our guys kept things under control the whole tournament and we never doubted we would advance. They competed well on a tough course under tough conditions. To make nationals for the third straight year says a lot about our program and the caliber of players we have. It takes a lot to even put yourself in that position."
"Now we have a chance to compete for the national championship," Higgins added. "But you can't win it if you don't make it there and this was the first step."
Oklahoma State was the only team to finish under par on the 7,173-yard, par-71 course, carding a seven-under 845. Runner-up Northwestern was 16 strokes back at 861, while A&M and Georgia Tech tied for third at 867. Rounding out the top 10 and advancing to the NCAA Championship were Lamar (869), Minnesota (874), Oklahoma (877), Clemson (881), Duke (883) and Kentucky (884).
Kentucky's final player birdied the last two holes to lift the Wildcats past Texas (885) by a single stroke for the final qualifying spot.
Oklahoma State freshman Jonathan Moore earned medalist honors with an eight-under total of 69-69-67=205. He edged teammate Zach Robinson (208) by three strokes, while Lamar's Dawie Van der Walt was the only other player to break par at three-under (210). A&M senior Andrew Parr (68-74-72=214) and freshman Bronson Burgoon (68-71-75=214) tied for fourth at one-over.
A&M sophomore Robert Gates (74-72-72=218) tied for 20th, sophomore Martin Piller (74-76-73=223) tied for 47th and senior Jerad Harklau (75-74-77=226) tied for 63rd.
Parr was five-over through 12 holes, but posted birdies on four of the last six holes to close with a one-over 72. Gates also carded a 72 in a round that included four birdies and five bogeys. Piller birded the first two holes en route to a two-over 73.
Qualifying for nationals as individuals were Kansas State's Robert Streb (216) and Texas' Randy Lowry (217).
Purdue finished 12th (886), followed by TCU (889), Tulsa (892), SMU (895), Texas-Arlington (901), Xavier (901), Kansas State (903), Missouri (905), Kent State (909), Colorado (911), Nebraska (923), Siena (928), Eastern Kentucky (929), Cleveland State (934), Princeton (943) and St. Francis (Pa.) (944).
A pair of other Big 12 schools competed in the other two regionals. Texas Tech advanced by finishing third at the East Regional in Orlando, Fla., while Baylor finished 20th and did not advance out of the West Regional in Tucson, Ariz.