May 12, 2009
DALY CITY, Calif. - No. 12-ranked Texas A&M will compete in the NCAA Men's Golf West Regional beginning on Thursday at the Lake Merced Golf Club.
The 54-hole event continues through Saturday with the top five teams advancing to the national finals May 26-30 in Toledo, Ohio. The other five regionals are in Galloway, N.J.; Austin; Sorrento, Fla.; Bowling Green, Ky.; and Stillwater, Okla.
The No. 2-seeded Aggies will be making their seventh straight NCAA appearance under Head Coach J.T. Higgins. A&M has advanced to the NCAA tournament in 30 of the last 35 years. The Aggies finished seventh at last year's Central Regional in Columbus, Ohio, and went on to place 12th in the national finals, their highest finish since 1984.
Joining A&M in the 13-team West Regional (with seeding) will be No. 2 Southern California (1), No. 14 Arizona State (3), No. 22 San Diego State (4), UC Davis (5), Oregon (6), New Mexico (7), Colorado (8), UC Irvine (9), Kansas State (10), Oregon State (11), San Diego (12) and San Francisco (13).
Representing A&M will be seniors Bronson Burgoon and Matt Van Zandt, junior Andrea Pavan, and sophomores Nacho Elvira and John Hurley.
"This team has worked hard all season in preparation for these final two events," A&M Coach J.T. Higgins said. "Lake Merced is an old-style U.S. Open-type course and it should be right up our alley. Everything we have been emphasizing all season will come into play from being able to control our trajectory and spin on our approach shots to maintaining our poise when adversity strikes. It's a course that rewards the best players and teams."
Burgoon leads the team with a 72.38 scoring average and is ranked No. 17 nationally by Golfweek. An All-Big 12 pick, he is competing in his fourth straight NCAA regional and tied for fourth as a freshman in 2006. Burgoon owns school records for career scoring average (72.89) and career rounds of par or better (62).
He has finished in the top 25 in eight of 10 tournaments this season, including five top 10s. He won the Adams Cup of Newport last fall and was runner-up at the Callaway Match Play Qualifier.
Ranked No. 52 by Golfweek, Pavan is second on the team in scoring at 73.31 and also has had eight top-25 performances in 10 starts. He has placed in the top 10 four times, including a runner-up finish to Burgoon at the Adams Cup. Pavan is making his second regional appearance.
Van Zandt averages 74.00 and has placed in the top 15 in his last two starts, including a tie for 12th at the Big 12 Championship. Elvira, an All-America pick last year as a freshman, has a 75.29 average. Both players are making their second straight regional appearance. Elvira tied for 12th last year.
Hurley is the only player in the lineup without NCAA tournament experience. He averages 74.65 this season and has had four top-25 finishes, including a tie for fourth at the Aggie Invitational last month.
"This is our most experienced lineup and I think it will give us the best chance to advance to the NCAA finals," Higgins said. "They have all been in big tournaments -- four of them were at the NCAA Championships last year -- and they know what it will take to advance."
A&M has tied a school record with three tournament victories, including the Burns Intercollegiate in Hawaii where it shot 16-under-par in the final round. The Aggies have had seven top-five finishes in 10 events.
Lake Merced Golf Club has played host to a variety of college and USGA events, including the 1990 U.S. Junior Amateur won by Tiger Woods.
A total of seven Big 12 teams advanced to postseason play. In addition to the three teams in the West Regional (A&M, Colorado and Kansas State), two Big 12 members will play in the Southwest Regional: Texas Tech (3), Texas (4) and two will compete in the South Central Regional: Oklahoma State (1) and Baylor (8).