April 23, 2010
The Texas A&M men's golf team is heading into this weekend's 2010 Big 12 Championships on the heels of the Aggies' first-ever win at their home tournament and earning their highest regular season ranking in program history.
           The No. 2-ranked Aggies will battle for the team crown Friday through Sunday at Whispering Pines Golf Club in what might be the strongest conference in collegiate golf. The Big 12 is home to three top 10 teams in No. 1 Oklahoma State, No. 2 Texas A&M and No. 7 Texas, and also features No. 17 Texas Tech, Baylor, Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma (according to the April 18, 2010 Golfweek/Sagarin Ratings). The Big 12 Championships feature a 72-hole format scheduled to start with 36 holes Friday and 18 holes each on Saturday and Sunday.
           "We are playing really well with confidence and purpose," Aggie head coach J.T. Higgins said. "Winning the Big 12 Championship is one of our biggest goals and we feel good about our chances this year. Whispering Pines is quite possibly the best course in Texas and you have to be on your game if you expect to play it well. Hopefully, all that translates into a good weekend for us."
           The Aggies might be playing their best golf of the season after running away with last weekend's Aggies Invitational, which included six Big 12 squads including all four that are ranked in the top 25. The Aggies won the Aggie Invitational by 21 shots and had five of the top six individual finishers in the tournament.
           Higgins will use a lineup of senior Andrea Pavan (71.77 scoring average), sophomore Jordan Russell (71.82), freshman Cameron Peck (72.63), junior Nacho Elvira (73.19) and junior Conrad Shindler (73.33). Pavan is the lone returnee from last year's Big 12 squad that placed third behind three-time defending champion OSU and Colorado at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan. Pavan earned All-Big 12 honors after placing eighth with rounds of 78-68-73-73=296.
           The Aggies have tallied four team victories in 2009-10 with wins at the Lone Star Invitational, Baylor Intercollegiate, John Burns Intercollegiate (tie) and the Aggie Invitational. Several players have notched individual victories this season including Pavan (John Burns Invitational), Russell (Aggie Invitational) and junior John Hurley (Lone Star Invitational).