March 17, 2008
The Texas A&M men's golf team rode a barrage of birdies on Monday to a commanding 16-stroke lead after two rounds of the Barona Collegiate Cup at Barone Creek Golf Club. The final round is Tuesday.
A&M posted 41 birdies and an eagle en route to a 20-under-par total of 277-279=556, just one shot shy of the school record for 36 holes. The Aggies tied the mark with a 555 at the Burns Intercollegiate last month in Hawaii.
San Diego is a distant second at 572, followed by SMU (574), San Diego State (574), No. 5-ranked Oklahoma State (576), Wichita State (578), Nevada (581), Arizona (582), Illinois (587), Oklahoma (590), Coastal Carolina (592) and Denver (596).
A&M's Nacho Elvira (67-71=138) and Andrea Pavan (68-70=138) share the individual lead with San Diego State's David Palm (71-67=138). The Aggies' Bronson Burgoon (71-69=140) and Bobby Gates (71-69=140) are two shots back in fourth.
Of the 10 individual rounds posted by A&M players, nine were under par. Matt Van Zandt opened with a 6-over 78 in the morning round, but bounced back with a 1-under 71 in the afternoon. Van Zandt is tied for 38th at 149.
Elvira recorded 13 birdies on the day, including eight in his opening 67. At one point, he birdied four straight holes on the front nine.
Pavan holed a long iron shot for a 2 on the 471-yard, par-4 4th to jump start his 68.
"That's one of the best days we've had since I've been here," A&M Coach J.T. Higgins said. "The guys played almost flawless golf. We got a little tired at the end, but we were aggressive all day. We went out and played like we thought we were the best team in the field and went out and proved it. To have four guys in the top five in a strong field like this is tremendous. We want to have a great final round and play even better tomorrow."