Texas Tech University Athletics
Next Step Big 12 Championships
April 23, 2004 | Men's Golf
April 23, 2004
LUBBOCK, Texas - The No.35th-ranked men's golf team will travel to Hutchinson, Kan., for the eighth annual Big 12 Championships April 26-27. While conference championships is usually the end of the season for most teams, the Red Raiders hope that this will be a stepping stone into their third-straight NCAA Regional appearance and their second NCAA Nationals since Head Coach Greg Sands took over the program in 2001.
The Red Raiders recently had four athletes named to the Big 12's All-Academic teams, the second-most in the Big 12, behind conference rival Texas A&M with five. Andrew Dresser leads the pact for Tech, as he was named to the conference's academic first team, is ranked 35th nationally as individual and is Tech's number one golfer with a season stroke-average of 71.37.
The Red Raiders have had a stellar pre-conference schedule finishing in the top 10 in every one of their five spring-tournaments except one, with two finished in the top-three. Tech's best finish of the season came in the spring with a tied for second finish at the Carter Plantation Intercollegiate.
Dresser enters the championships as Tech's top golfer with six top 10 finishes and only one tournament where he finished out of the top 20. Behind Dresser is true freshman Oscar Floren, who has been a dominant force for the Red Raiders despite his young experience in the college arena. Floren carded Tech's second-lowest season stroke-average of 72.56, with five top 20 finishes on the season. Senior Brad Jacobson (72.67), junior Chris Pace (73.46) and sophomore William Haddrell (74.33) round out the last of Tech's top five golfers.
The Red Raiders go into next week's competition defending their top five finish of fifth from a year ago at the 2003 Big 12 Championships. This year, however, poses the Red Raiders with a great deal of competition with eight teams coming in ranked in the top 40 by Golf Weekly. Leading the field is No. 7 Oklahoma State, followed by No. 10 Texas, No. 22 Oklahoma, No. 24 Kansas, No. 31 Colorado, No. 35 Texas Tech, No. 37 Kansas State, No. 38 Baylor, and No.40 Texas A&M.
Since the league's inception in 1996, four different teams have taken home the men's Big 12 title. Oklahoma took home the first title in 1997, then again in 1998 and 2000. Kansas claimed the 1999 trophy, while Baylor (2001) and Texas (2002,2003) were the last schools to hold the title in the 21st century.
In the Big 12 coaches poll the Red Raiders were picked to finish seventh at this year's championship. The team, on the other hand, hopes for a second-consecutive top-five finish. With Tech's ranking of seventh, they will begin the first day of competition in pairings with Baylor and Texas A&M.
The two-day event will begin for the Red Raiders with an 8:50 a.m. start at the Prairie Dunes Country Club (6,596 yards, par 70). The event format will be 36 holes played on Mon., April 26, with the last 18 holes to be played on Tues., April 27th.
Players Mentioned
