Texas Tech University Athletics
Men's golf to challenge field at Big 12 Championships
June 21, 1999 | Men's Golf
LUBBOCK, Texas - The Texas Tech men's golf team heads into the 1998 Big 12 Men's Golf Tournament Monday and Tuesday, April 27-28, at the Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kansas. The second annual event is hosted by Baylor as all 12 teams are set to tee off of the first and tenth holes, starting at 8 a.m. Monday.
Prairie Dunes serves as the annual site of the conference championships. Oklahoma State claimed the inaugural title on the par 70, 6,593-yard layout, firing a three-round total of 882. The Cowboy's Leif Westerberg earned individual medalist honors, carding 67, 68, 76 to end one over. The Red Raiders saw a 12th place finish, totaling 952, with junior Philip Tate leading ending on top of the pack at tied for 29th.
Tate and five other Tech golfers will make the journey this year. Senior Tom Baldwin will also be making a return trip after placing tied for 48th last year. Freshmen Gant Bills and Matt Loving, and senior Mark Garcia will all make their first appearances at the Big 12 event. Tate finished with the lowest stroke average on the team this spring at 75.7, followed by Bills (75.9), Baldwin (77.6), Loving (77.8) and Garcia (78.5). Bills took the team's top scoring spot in two spring events, while Tate claimed the other four.
Texas Tech had a league-leading five individuals named to the 1998 Men's Golf Academic All-Big 12 Team that was announced Thursday. Baldwin, a marketing major from Russell, Kan., and Tate, a public relations major from Wichita Falls, Texas, were both listed on the first team. Junior Alex Armstrong, along with Bills and Loving earned honorable mention honors from the league office.
A total of 23 student-athletes from around the conference were among the elite listed on the Men's Golf Academic All-Big 12 Team. First-team honorees have at least a 3.2 grade point average and are letterwinners on the team, while those with GPAs between 3.0 and 3.19 earned honorable mention status.