Aggies stumble in opening round at regionals

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (May 3) - Riding a string of three consecutive tournament victories, the Cameron men's golf team hit the first stumbling block on the path to a return trip to the NCAA Division II national tournament. The Aggies recorded just six birdies as a team and posted a team score of 314 to land in seventh place after the opening round Monday at the South Central Regional Championships at Millwood Country Club.

Coach Jerry Hrnciar's squad lies 26 strokes behind first-round leader West Texas A&M. Teams will compete in a second round of action on Tuesday, with the tournament scheduled to conclude with the third and final round on Wednesday.

Owen Mahaffey, who won the individual title last month at the Lone Star Conference championships, posted the lowest round of the day for Cameron. The Wichita Falls freshman shot a seven-over-par 77 to land in a tie for 21st place in the individual standings. Canadian, Texas, sophomore Travis Lovins was one stroke back with a 78, while Duncanville, Texas, junior Ryan King finished with a 79. Walters junior Collin Garrett carded an 80. Brad Aycock, a freshman from Durant, shot 85.

Most of the damage to Cameron scores on Monday could be attributed to two holes. The Aggies lost a combined 18 strokes to par on holes 6 and 7. Hole number 6, a 401-yard par 4, claimed 11 of those strokes. Mahaffey was the only Cameron player to score better than double-bogey on the hole, recording a par before recording a bogey on the No. 1-handicap 7th hole.

The holes began a disasterous stretch for the Aggies. King teed off on No. 6 at even par, but found himself at eight-over by the time he reached the 12th tee. Mahaffey followed his bogey at No. 7 with a double-bogey on the par-3 eighth. Lovins was just one-over coming to the sixth, but lost four strokes to par over the next three holes to make the turn at five-over. Garrett birdied the par-four fourth hole and was even-par before a triple-bogey at No. 6 led to a six-over score of 40 on the front nine.

Aycock was the only Aggie golfer to record two birdies on the day, shaving a stroke each on Nos. 12 and 13 to get to eight-over.

West Texas A&M's Josh Luongo held the first-round individual lead with a two-under round on 68. Abilene Christian's Pierre Goethals lurks a stroke back in second with an opening-round 69, while 10 others remain within five strokes of the lead.

Live scoring of each round of the 2004 NCAA II South Central Regional Championships, including team and individual updates after every three holes played, is available on the internet at www.golfstat.com.

2004 NCAA II South Central Regional Championships
Millwood Country Club (Par 70 - 6494 yards)
current position	team	scoring			rounds	total score
		to par	thru	today	1
1	West Texas A&M	+8	F	+8	288	288
2	Northeastern St.	+10	F	+10	290	290
3	St. Edward's	+13	F	+13	293	293
4	Abilene Christian	+16	F	+16	296	296
5	Central Oklahoma	+23	F	+23	303	303
6	St. Mary's U. (TX)	+30	F	+30	310	310
7	Cameron University	+34	F	+34	314	314
8	Southwestern Okla.	+44	F	+44	324	324

Cameron Individual Scores
current position	player	scoring			rounds	total score
		to par	thru	today	1
T21	Owen Mahaffey	+7	F	+7	77	77
T25	Travis Lovins	+8	F	+8	78	78
T30	Ryan King	+9	F	+9	79	79
T32	Collin Garrett	+10	F	+10	80	80
42	Brad Aycock	+15	F	+15	85	85