October 04, 2006
Texas A&M's Bronson Burgoon and Trey Todd each fired two-under-par 68s on Wednesday, but it wasn't enough for the Aggies to overcome red-hot Florida at the PING/Golfweek Preview at the Golden Horseshoe Golf Club.
Led by Bobby Horschel's blazing 63, the Gators closed with an eight-under 272 to win the title by four strokes with an 834 total. Defending national champion Oklahoma State and A&M each shot 276, but the Cowboys' 838 total nipped the Aggies by one stroke for second place.
"I was really happy with our effort," A&M Coach J.T. Higgins said. "The guys played fantastic and really played their hearts out. The guy from Florida shot 63 to beat us, but we were right there. It was a great team effort against as good a field as we'll see all year."
Played at the site of the 2007 NCAA Championship, the tournament featured the top 10 teams in Golfweek's final poll from last season.
UNLV finished third at 847, followed by Georgia (848), Arizona State (852), Lamar (855), Clemson (855), Georgia Tech (863), Kentucky (863), Wake Forest (864), Washington (867), BYU (867), Minnesota (874) and host Virginia Commonwealth (886).
Horschel captured individual honors by two shots with a seven-under 70-70-63=203 total. Georgia's Brian Harman placed second at 69-70-66=205 and Burgoon was third at 69-69-68=206. Burgoon was the only player in the field to break par in all three rounds.
Horschel's closing round was not the best of the day. BYU's Daniel Summerhays fired a 10-under 60, tying the NCAA record shared by three other players. Summerhays tied for seventh place at 209.
A&M's Martin Piller (72-69-70=211) and Todd (72-71-68=211) tied for 11th, Robert Gates (67-74-72=213) tied for 23rd and Chris Massoletti (76-75-70=221) tied for 54th.
The Aggies posted 20 birdies in the final round, including six by Todd and five by Burgoon.
A&M is back in action at the Isleworth Collegiate Invitational Oct. 22-24 in Windermere, Fla.