May 30, 2006
No. 6-ranked Texas A&M will compete at the 109th NCAA Men's Golf Championship Wednesday through Saturday at the Sunriver Resort's Crosswater Club.
A&M is making its third straight appearance at the national tournament for the first time since the regional qualifying format was adopted in 1989. The Aggies are one of just 11 schools that have advanced to the NCAAs in each of the last three seasons.
The 72-hole tournament will consist of 18 holes each day. The 30-team field will be cut to the top 15 teams after the third round. A&M tees off at 1 p.m. (PST) on Wednesday and will play with third-ranked Florida and No. 7 Arizona State. Live scoring is available at www.golfstat.com.
The Aggies will be represented by seniors Andrew Parr and Jerad Harklau,
sophomores Robert Gates Jr. and Martin Piller, and freshman Bronson Burgoon.
"This team has worked so hard all season for the opportunity to compete for the national championship and now they are going to get the chance," A&M coach J.T. Higgins said. "If hard work, commitment and attitude play any role in the outcome, then I really like our chances. I could not be more proud of these guys and more excited for them. More than any team I have ever been associated with, they deserve success because of the way they go about their business and the way they live their lives."
Rounding out the field are top-ranked Georgia, Oklahoma State (2), Georgia Tech (4), UCLA (5), Clemson (8), UNLV (9), BYU (10), Texas Tech (12), Wake Forest (13), North Carolina (14), East Tennessee State (15), Arizona (16), Northwestern (17), Duke (20), Lamar (21), Washington (22), Charlotte (23), Coastal Carolina (24), Auburn (25), Kentucky (26), Minnesota (28), Oklahoma (32), North Carolina State (34), South Carolina (41), Pepperdine (43), Loyola Marymount and Nevada.
A&M missed the cut last year and finished 14th in 2004. Georgia is the defending team champion and Washington's James Lepp will defend his individual crown.
"We always talk about process and game plan," Higgins said. "If we can focus on the process, not get caught up in results and stick to our game plan, then the result will take care of itself. It has kept us in contention in nearly every tournament we have played, so we'll stick with that strategy. We played an extremely difficult schedule this spring in preparation for this tournament. We are hoping the guys go into it feeling relaxed and confident just like they have in all the other tournaments we played."
The Aggies have won two tournaments and have placed in the top three seven times, including four of their last five starts. A&M finished third at both the Big 12 Championship and NCAA Central Regional. A&M is one of just three schools with all five starters ranked in the top 100 players nationally, joining Georgia and Oklahoma State.
The Aggies' top three players -- Parr, Gates and Burgoon -- have posted A&M's three best stroke averages since Anthony Rodriguez had a 72.14 average in 1994-95. Gates and Burgoon are tied for the team lead with 73.08 averages, followed closely by Parr (73.27), Harklau (73.72) and Piller (74.65).
An All-Big 12 pick ranked 50th by Golfweek, Parr has had seven top-15 finishes and is coming off a fourth-place effort at the NCAA Central Regional. With 146 career rounds, Parr will likely break the A&M record of 148 set by Stephen Reed (2001-04). He shares with Reed the record for career rounds of par or better with 45.
Gates is ranked 51st and has posted nine top-20 finishes. He has finished in the top seven in four of his last six starts, including a tie for fourth at the Big 12 Championship.
Burgoon's stroke average is an A&M freshman record, eclipsing the mark of 73.56 set by Gates last season. Burgoon has placed in the top 20 in seven events, including the last five. He tied for fourth with Parr at the regional and is ranked 53rd.
Piller sat out the fall, but has played in all six spring tournaments, finishing in the top 25 four times and earning a No. 77 national ranking. Harklau has posted six top-25 finishes, including a runner-up performance at the Landfall Tradition in North Carolina in October, and is ranked 88th.
A&M is making its 23rd appearance at the NCAA Men's Golf Championships.
The Aggies' have finished in the top 10 six times, with a best of fourth place in 1982. A&M's last top 10 effort was in 1984, when it placed 10th.
Honored by Golf Digest as one of "America's 100 Greatest Courses," Crosswater is a heavily-wooded layout that features bent grass fairways and greens. The par-72 course measures a whopping 7,630 yards and played host to the NCAA women's championship in 2000 and 2005.
"Crosswater is a long, demanding golf course," Higgins said. "The rough should be high and I am sure the greens will be fast. Fortunately, we have seen a lot of that this spring. We practice on a long, tough course every day and almost every tournament we have played this spring has featured slick greens. I like the length of the course because I think it fits our team. These guys can bomb it off the tee and that should give us a little advantage. And in a national championship, any advantage is good."