April 5, 2009
ALPHARETTA, Ga. - Senior Clay Hodge had a hole-in-one and No. 24-ranked Texas A&M opened with an eight-over-par 296 on Sunday at the United States Collegiate Championship at the Golf Club of Georgia.
No. 4 Clemson leads after posting a five-under 283, one shot better than UCLA (284). The Aggies are 15 strokes back and tied for 11th going into Monday's second round.
"The results don't show it but we played much better golf than we've been playing," A&M Coach J.T. Higgins said. "We kept it in play off the tee and put ourselves in the right position. We missed a lot of putts inside 10 feet and just didn't take advantage. Still, we are doing some things that made us successful earlier this season and we looked like a competitive golf team."
No. 3 Southern California is in third (285), followed by No. 9 Washington (287), No. 2 Oklahoma State (289), No. 5 Stanford (289), No. 11 South Carolina (291), No. 8 Alabama (291), No. 10 Georgia Tech (291), No. 1 Georgia (295), A&M and No. 6 Florida (296), No. 23 Florida State (302), No. 7 Indiana (303) and East Tennessee State (306).
Hodge aced the 168-yard, par-3 13th hole with a 7-iron and finished with a three-over 75.
The Aggies were led by senior Bronson Burgoon and freshman Andrea Pavan (75) are tied for 43rd, and sophomore Nacho Elvira is in 74th after shooting an 81.
UCLA's Erik Flores is the individual leader after posting a seven-under 65.