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Aggie Golfers Earn No. 3 Seed in NCAA Regional

Posted: 7:37 PM May 7, 2012
Reporter: Texas A&M Sports Information

INDIANAPOLIS—The Big 12 Champion Texas A&M men’s golf team earned the No. 3 seed in the NCAA Regional in Bowling Green, Kentucky, the selection committee announced late Monday.

The Aggies, who were the Big 12’s automatic qualifier into the championships, will be making their school-record 10th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and 39th NCAA appearance overall. Play is scheduled for May 17-19 at The Club at Olde Stone.

“We’re very excited to have made it 10 years in a row,” head coach J.T. Higgins said. “I can remember back to when we’d sit there and listen to the (selection) show and wonder if we were getting a bid. It’s nice to know you’re in and just have to wait to find out where you’re going, it’s not quite as tense. It’s pretty nice to have put together a streak of 10 in a row.”

UCLA is the top seed in the 14-team regional field, followed by Arkansas, A&M, Clemson, North Texas, Chattanooga, Memphis, Virginia Tech, Northwestern, Iowa State, Colorado State, Jacksonville State, Penn and Alabama State. The tournament will consist of 54 holes of stroke play on the par-72, 7,135-yard layout, with 18 holes each day. The top five teams in the regional advance to nationals, scheduled for May 29-June 3 at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif.

The Club at Olde Stone, designed by internationally acclaimed golf architect Arthur Hills, opened in 2006 and is hosting NCAA play for the second time in four seasons (also 2009). It features a combination of hills, flatlands, trees, grassland and water. There is a difference of 160 vertical feet between the highest and lowest points on the course and water hazards come into play on five holes. Fairways and greens are planted in Bentgrass and approximately 50 grass-lined bunkers filled with fine white sand line the fairways and guard the greens.

“I think Olde Stone is going to be great for us,” Higgins said. “It’s a very difficult golf course and it has some of the fastest greens you’ll ever see. We’ve played a lot of greens like that this year so I think we’re prepared for it. The field is strong and it has some teams from that part of the country that maybe are used to courses like that a little more than us. I feel confident though that if play like we have all spring we’ll be in great shape.”

Five other sites will host regionals next weekend, including Greensboro, North Carolina (Grandover Resort); Athens, Georgia (Univ of Georgia GC); Ann Arbor, Michigan (Univ of Michigan GC); Norman, Oklahoma (Jimmie Austin OU GC); and Palo Alto, California (Stanford GC).

A&M is one of seven Big 12 schools to make the field, joining Baylor, Iowa State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas and Texas Tech.

TEXAS A&M NCAA REGIONAL HISTORY

Year Site Finish
2012 Bowling Green, Ky. ??
2011* Tucson, Ariz. 2nd
2010* Bryan, Texas 2nd
2009* Daly City, Calif. 3rd
2008* Columbus, Ohio 7th
2007 Sugar Grove, Ill. T-10th
2006* Cleveland, Ohio 3rd
2005* South Bend, Ind. 3rd
2004* West Lafayette, Ind. 4th
2003 Manhattan, Kan. 23rd
2001 Stillwater, Okla. 13th
2000 Victoria, Texas 13th
1998 San Antonio, Texas 11th
1997* Norman, Okla. 3rd
1996* Ann Arbor, Mich. 1st
1995 Montgomery, Texas 17th
1994 Okla. City, Okla. 12th
1993 Columbus, Ohio 11th
1992 McKinney, Texas 17th
1990 Columbus, Ohio 18th
1989 McKinney, Texas 17th

* advanced to NCAA Championship

NOTE: A&M advanced to the NCAA Championship 18 times prior to the advent of regionals … the Aggies will be gunning for their 28th NCAA Championship berth next weekend.