June 01, 2006
With all five of its players shooting par or better, sixth-ranked Texas A&M fired a five-under 283 on Thursday to climb into a tie for ninth place after two rounds of the 109th NCAA Men's Golf Championships at the Sunriver Resort's Crosswater Club.
The Aggies' round tied for the third best of the day and was one shot off the school record for NCAA Championships play set in 1982. The Aggies are looking for their first top 10 finish since 1984, when they placed 10th. A&M's best finish was fourth in 1982.
The 30-team field will be trimmed to the top 15 after Friday's third round. The final round is scheduled for Saturday.
Washington fired a six-under 282 to take a three-shot lead at the midway point at 563 (-13). Arizona State, which had the day's best round with a 279, is tied for second with Wake Forest at 566 (-8). A&M is tied with UCLA for ninth at 574 (-2).
Kyle Reifers of Wake Forest has a three-stroke lead in the individual standings with a nine-under total of 65-70=135. Four players, including Oklahoma State's Pablo Martin and Jonathan Moore, are tied for second at 138 (-6). A&M seniors Andrew Parr (71-70=141) and Jerad Harklau (71-70=141) are tied for 13th, six strokes off the pace.
A&M had an impressive 17 birdies on Thursday with 12 bogeys and only one double bogey after posting five doubles in the opening round. A&M was nine under with two holes left, but played the last two holes in four over. No A&M player was more than one-over at any point in the second round.
"We left the course yesterday with a bad taste in our mouths," A&M coach J.T. Higgins said. "We knew we were capable of playing a lot better and the guys came out with something to prove. We didn't finish well but we're anxious to come out and see what we can do tomorrow. Our goal was to get better every round and that's what we'll try to keep doing. We'll see where that puts us at the end."
Parr and Harklau led the Aggies for the second straight day with two-under 70s while sophomore Martin Piller also bettered par with a 71. Sophomore Robert Gates and freshman Bronson Burgoon carded even-par 72s.
Parr played nearly flawless golf, recording his only bogey of the day on his final hole, the par-4 9th. Going back to Wednesday's opening round, Parr had played 27 straight holes without a bogey. Harklau had six birdies in his round but also bogeyed the final hole.
Piller played his final nine holes in two-under while Gates and Burgoon also had late runs. Gates was two-under with two holes left, but double-bogeyed the par-4 8th. Burgoon opened his final nine with two straight birdies to go to one-under, but bogeyed the 8th.
Piller (75-71=146) and Burgoon (74-72=146) are tied for 63rd while Gates (75-72=147) is tied for 80th.
Rounding out the top 15 are Florida in fourth place (569), followed by Clemson (570), Kentucky (570), Oklahoma State (572), Minnesota (573), A&M (291-283=574), UCLA (574), Lamar (575), North Carolina State (579), Arizona (579), Georgia (579), UNLV (583) and Coastal Carolina (583).
Fives teams are tied for 17th, four strokes behind 15th place -- Northwestern (587), Charlotte (587), Texas Tech (587), Duke (587) and East Tennessee State (587). South Carolina is in 22nd (588), followed by Auburn (588), Nevada (590), BYU (590), Pepperdine (590), Oklahoma (590), Georgia Tech (595) and Loyola Marymount (612).