Sept. 20, 2010
AUBURN, Wash. - The ninth-ranked Texas A&M men's golf team sits in seventh place after two rounds of the Kikkor Golf Husky Invitational Monday at Washington National Golf Club.
The Aggies (588, +12) struggled out of the gate, battling weather conditions en route to a first-round 305. The team bounced back, however, with a 5-under 283 in round two--the third-best score of the round--to enter Tuesday's final round at 12-over.
Pepperdine holds a strong lead on the field after carding a 10-under 566. Host and sixth-ranked Washington (574, -2) is second, eight strokes back, followed by San Diego State (E), Missouri (+3), No. 5 Oregon (+10) and Pacific (+11). Oregon State (+13) and Idaho are both one stroke back of the Aggies, followed by UC Davis (+14), BYU (+18), Washington State (+19), Fresno State (+21) and Gonzaga (+23).
"We were really disappointed with our play in the first round," head coach J.T. Higgins said. "Sometimes in golf you do get bad breaks as far as dealing with the weather, and we hit a really difficult stretch of the golf course right when the weather turned pretty bad. We weren't careful, didn't treat those shots like they were precious and we hit some really big numbers. Without a doubt we should have played better than that. But to the guys' credit, they came back in the afternoon and really put together a fine round."
Sophomore Case Cochran set a personal best with a second-round 66 and sits in a tie for eighth place with a 1-under 143. Senior Nacho Elvira (71-72=143) is tied with Cochran in eighth, while sophomore Cameron Peck--playing just miles from his hometown of Olympia--is in 40th with a 6-over 150 (75-75). Junior Jordan Russell rebounded from a tough opening round to shoot a 70 and sits in 52nd at 8-over 152, while junior Geoff Shaw (83-75=158) is in 65th. Senior Bryant Lach, playing as an individual, shot 85-78=163 and is in 73rd place.
"I'm really proud of Case," Higgins said. "That 66 was awesome. Jordan came back strong too after a really tough morning and shot under par, and Nacho was solid all day. Those three guys were great."
The Aggies will be first off the tee for Tuesday's final round, which begins at 7:30 a.m. (PT). A&M is paired with Oregon State and Idaho. Live scoring of the Kikkor Golf Husky Invite can be found on Golfstat.com and fans can also follow the action via twitter at @kikkor_invite and @aggie_m_golf.
"We've probably played ourselves out of a chance to win the tournament to be honest, but we can still have a decent showing tomorrow and leave here with our heads held high," Higgins said. "We're going to show up and get after it, and hopefully we'll have a good final round like we usually do."