Feb. 16, 2011
KAHUKU, Hawai'i - The eighth-ranked Texas A&M men's golf team is tied for the lead after Wednesday's first round of the John A. Burns Intercollegiate at the Palmer Course at Turtle Bay Resort.
The Aggies were one of two teams to finish below par on the 7,198-yard, par-72 track, firing a 5-under 283 on the day. A&M sits tied with Cal (283) heading into Thursday's second round, with a handful of teams still on the course at press time.
"I thought we did a nice job today, but it's still far short of our capabilities," head coach J.T. Higgins said. "We got off to a rough start but battled back to put ourselves at the top of the leaderboard."
SMU was in third after a 1-over 289, followed by Nevada (290, +2) and BYU Hawaii (292, +4). Arizona was wrapping up play on the course and sat in sixth, at 5-over, with a few holes to go.
Senior Conrad Shindler led the way for the Aggies with a 4-under 68 and is tied for the lead. Junior Jordan Russell and senior John Hurley--who is playing as an individual--were one shot back in a tie for third after carding a 3-under 69.
Sophomore Case Cochran (71, -1) is two strokes back in eighth, while senior Nacho Elvira (75, +3) and sophomore Cameron Peck (76, +4) were in 36th and 50th, respectively.
"Conrad has been exceptional all week in practice and at home in our qualifier, so it was nice to see him carry it over to the tournament," Higgins said. "Jordan was his usual steady self and Case looked solid. We just need Cam and Nacho to play their game and we can win this tournament. I think they both put a lot of pressure on themselves today, and it was too much, but I feel really good about them and have confidence it will all come together tomorrow."
Final first-round results will be available on golfstat.com late tonight. The second round will get underway at 7:30 a.m. HST/11:30 a.m. CST on Thursday, with live scoring available on golfstat.com.