Texas A&M
NCAA Championship
Shindler's Surge Lifts Aggies into Elite Eight at NCAA Championship
May 28, 2009 | Men's Golf
May 28, 2009
Friday's Quarterfinal Pairings
TOLEDO, Ohio - Conrad Shindler shot an even-par 71 on Thursday as Texas A&M held on to advance to the final eight at the NCAA Men's Golf Championship at Inverness Golf Club.
The Aggies (298-276-295=869) tied for seventh in stroke play to move on to Friday's match play quarterfinals. The seventh-seeded Aggies will face second-seeded Arizona State at 7:30 a.m. (CST). In the other quarterfinals, No. 1 Oklahoma State will battle No. 8 Georgia, No. 3 USC will play No. 6 Michigan, and No. 4 Arkansas takes on No. 5 Washington.
The winners will advance to Friday afternoon's semifinals followed by the championship match on Saturday. Live scoring will be available online at www.golfstat.com.
"Arizona State is one of the great programs in golf history and they are really good again this year," A&M Coach J.T. Higgins said. "They are also hot right now having won the West Regional and finishing second here in medal play. We will have our work cut out for us, but I think we match up well and we fully expect to advance to the final four Friday afternoon."
Since the quarterfinal losers will tie for fifth in the final standings, A&M already has matched the 1961 team for the second-best finish in school history. A&M's highest finish was fourth in 1982.
"This has been an incredible year for this program and we are one of just eight teams still playing," Higgins said. "These guys have so much to be proud of and I could not have asked for more -- except maybe three more wins."
A&M started Thursday's round in third place, but quickly slipped out of the top eight after going 10-over through the first 10 holes. Shindler helped bring the Aggies back with an eagle on the par-5 13th after he nailed a 194-yard seven iron approach to within a foot of the flag. He followed with a birdie on the 14th to get back to even and parred in. Shindler had a his first career hole-in-one in Tuesday's opening round.
"What a great tournament for Conrad," Higgins said. "He saved our season with his back nine today. He hit it great, made some great par saves and was tough down the stretch."
Shindler (75-68-71=214) tied for 13th, the highest individual finish by an Aggie since Danny Briggs placed eighth in 1982. The only other top-10 finish at nationals by an A&M player came in 1972, when Steve Veriato placed 10th.
North Carolina State's Matt Hill claimed the NCAA individual title with a six-under total of 69-69-69=207.
As a team, the Aggies played the final eight holes in just one over. A&M and Georgia finished four strokes ahead of TCU, which placed ninth and missed the cut.
"It was really intense today," Higgins siad. "We got off to a poor start but gutted it out on the back nine to advance. The weather was bad early and we struggled but managed to hold it together."
A&M's Bronson Burgoon (72-67-76=215) tied for 18th, Andrea Pavan (76-72-74=222) tied for 62nd and Matt Van Zandt (76-76-77=229) tied for 121st.
Van Zandt endured a bizarre round, finishing six-over after posting three double-bogeys and five bogeys. He played a seven-hole stretch in the middle of his round in five-under.
A&M and top-seeded Oklahoma State will represent the Big 12 Conference. Big 12 teams not advancing were Texas Tech (25th) and Texas (28th).
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Friday Pairings vs. Arizona State Conrad Shindler, Texas A&M vs. Scott Pinckney, ASU Matt Vam Zandt, Texas A&M vs. Jesper Kennegard, ASU John Hurley, Texas A&M vs. Chan Kim, ASU Andrea Pavan, Texas A&M vs. Stephan Gross, ASU Bronson Burgoon, Texas A&M vs. Knut Borsheim, ASU
