June 1, 2011
STILLWATER, Okla. - Texas A&M sits in a tie for eighth place after Wednesday's second round of the NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship at Karsten Creek.
The Aggies, who fired a 13-over 301 on the afternoon, are 14-over (289-301=590) for the tournament and are all square with Ohio State (291-299=590) for the eighth and final match play qualifying spot heading into Thursday's final round.
"Most teams have a bad round at NCAAs, and ours was today," head coach J.T. Higgins said. "We didn't make many birdies and we couldn't get any putts to drop. The course is so penalizing if you miss the fairway, and we just didn't hit it that great off tee today. We probably put ourselves in bad positions that led to the bigger numbers."
Georgia Tech has the team lead with a 3-under 573, followed by UCLA (-2), Illinois (+2), Georgia (+3), Alabama (+4), host Oklahoma State (+9) and defending national champion Augusta State (+12). The Fighting Illini were the only squad in the 30-team field to shoot under par in Tuesday's second round, going 1-under for the day.
Heading into Thursday's final 18 holes of stroke play, there are 11 other teams within 10 shots of the eighth and final qualifying spot--including USC (+16), Arkansas (+18), Arizona State (+20), Duke (+20), Iowa (+20), San Diego State (+20), Florida (+23), California (+23), Michigan (+23), Texas (+24) and LSU (+24).
"We knew we'd have to play well the last day regardless of where we were heading into it," Higgins said. "If we were in third or fourth right now, we'd probably be saying the exact same thing. We need to have our best round be tomorrow. If it is, we'll be moving on. We're in great position to make it, we just have to play Aggie golf tomorrow."
The best round of the day for A&M was carded by senior Conrad Shindler, who went for a 1-over 73 and is at 6-over (77-73=150) for the week. The Aggies' top individual after two rounds is sophomore Cameron Peck, who sits three shots out of the lead in sixth place with a 2-under 142 (68-74).
Senior Nacho Elvira is in 55th at 5-over (72-77=149), while junior Jordan Russell (73-77=150) is tied with Shindler in 63rd at 6-over. Senior John Hurley (+13, 76-81=157) had the shot of the day for A&M, acing the par-3, 175-yard seventh hole--the same which Russell aced back in the fall at the PING/Golfweek Preview.
"Everyone played okay, but no one played great," Higgins said. "The difference between Jordan's and Nacho's rounds, and Cam's and Conrad's rounds, were Cam and Conrad made a couple more birdies. We just weren't real sharp today and didn't make enough birdies to play great."
Texas A&M returns to the course on Thursday afternoon for the third and final round. The Aggies will tee off from hole No. 10 at 12:50 p.m. and will be paired with Augusta State and Ohio State. Live scoring will be available on ncaa.com and aggieathletics.com.