Tech Season Marches on with the Big 12 Championship
April 12, 2007 | Women's Golf
April 12, 2007
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LUBBOCK, Texas - In a battle among conference opponents, the Texas Tech women's golf season rolls towards a close as the Red Raiders compete in the Big 12 Championship April 16-18. The three-day event will take place at the Ridgewood Country Club in Waco, Texas, with 18 holes Monday through Wednesday. Baylor will be hosting the Big 12 event in its 11th season, marking the first time the Bears have done so.
Tee times have been set for Monday and Tuesday beginning at 9 a.m. The final round on Wednesday will begin at 8:30 a.m. Live scoring of the event can be found on Golf Stat's results site, www.golfstateresults.com, while a complete recap of Texas Tech results can be found on www.texastech.com.
ON THE COURSE
Being played in Waco for the first time and in the Lone Star State for the fourth time, including the third time in the last four years, the Big 12 Championships will take place at the Ridgewood Country Club. The course is located just 12 miles from Baylor's campus and was opened in 1947.
Several notable tournaments have been played out on the course including the 2000 Big 12 Fall Preview and the men's 1994 Southwest Conference Championship. Tech's assistant coach Bryan Novoa was a member of the Tech men's golf team that took part in the 1994 conference championships at Ridgewood.
THE COMPETITION
Tech will be matching up against the 11 conference foes, including two who are listed in the Golfworld/NGCA Coaches top 25 poll. Oklahoma State will be the team with a target on its back as they are 10th in the coaches poll and ninth on the Golfweek/Sagarin performance index. Texas A&M is listed high in each poll as well, 15th in the coaches, 14th on the performance index. Both teams are well tested against top 25 teams, as the Cowgirls have notched 27 victories against them, while the Aggies have 22. The rest of the Big 12 members combined have defeated top 25 teams nine times.
The Golfweek/Sagarin rankings for the remaining squads are as follows: Baylor 41, Colorado 57, Iowa State 74, Kansas 78, Kansas State 76, Missouri 48, Nebraska 54, Oklahoma 60, Texas 77 and Texas Tech 80.
The Red Raiders have previously faced each of the conference foes and have accumulated a 4-21 record in the process. Wins have come against Kansas, Kansas State, Nebraska and Oklahoma.
THE LAST TEE
April 9, 2007 NORMAN, Okla. - After carding a school-record low-18 in the first round of the Susie Maxwell Berning Classic, Texas Tech sophomore Ulrika Van Niekerk finished in third place with a five-under 211. The South Africa native fired rounds of 66-74-71--211 to mark the school's second-lowest 54-hole score, behind Stephanie Dukes' 208 from the 2001 Susie Maxwell. The tournament marks van Niekerk's low 18-, 36- and 54-hole score, as well as first top-five finish.
The Red Raider team sat in 11th after the first two rounds of the tournament from the Jimmie Austin OU Golf Course, but moved to 10th position after the final round. Tech finished with the field's sixth-lowest round on Monday among the 18 participating squads. The team turned in scores of 297-303-300--900 to finish 36-over par.
Baylor finished as the only team with an under-par score as they fired rounds of 282-287-291--860 to take the team title. Arkansas finished in second with scores of 292-278-299--869 (+5). Individually, Ladyback Stacy Lewis earned the top spot with an 8-under 208, two shots ahead of BU's Anna Rehnholm who carded 68-69-73--210.
Shooting par for Tech in the final round was Gloriana Soto as she improved seven shots from the second round. The Red Raider sophomore finished with scores of 75-79-72--226 to tie for 40th place.
Tracy Stanford finished with her lowest 54-hole score since joining the Tech team as she finished tied for 64th with rounds of 76-77-80--233. Megan Dowdy tied for 72nd after turning in 83-75-77--235. Freshman Rosalyn Kim shot scores of 80-77-81--238 to tie for 83rd. Marla Troester, competing as an individual, finished with rounds of 81-79-83--243 to tie for 96th.
JUST LAST YEAR
The Red Raiders completed last year's season with a struggle at the 10th annual Big 12 Championship as the team finished last among the 12 squads. The Red and Black started with a strong first round as they tied for fifth after an 18-hole score of 309. Individually, Gloriana Soto was second on the leaderboard with an even-par 72 first round.
Tech fell six places after the second round in which they shot a 319. Soto also slipped as she fell to a tie with teammate Megan Dowdy as each carded a 36-hole score of 9-over 153 to sit in 20th place.
With every Big 12 squad shooting a higher third round from the second, Tech finished the tournament with a third round of 338 to finish with a 102-over 966. The Red Raiders failed to place an individual in the top 20, as Dowdy finished just outside in a tie for 23rd with an 18-over 234.
BIG 12 HISTORY
During the first four years of the conference tournament from 1997-2000, Tech was a staple in the top half of the Big 12 members. They finished sixth in the first playing of the tourney, fourth in 1998, third in 1999 and sixth again in 2000.
The third-place finish in 1999 remains Tech's top finish in the Big 12 Championship. The Red Raiders finished the tournament that was hosted by Colorado with rounds of 301-305-305--911. Former Techster Brooke Lowrance tied for first, but lost in a playoff; she turned in scores of 71-73-75--219. Lowrance's finish also remains as the top finish ever for a Red Raider in the title event.
Tech finished with two individuals in the top 10 during the 1998 championships, as Lowrance tied for 7th and Priscillia Hunt tied for 10th. That year sits as the only year that two Red Raiders have placed in the top 10.
The last time the Tech team finished in the top half was in 2005 as the Red Raiders finished with rounds of 305-323-304--932 to place sixth.
UPPING HER GAME
Talk about playing at another level - that is exactly what sophomore Ulrika Van Niekerk has done this spring. The South Africa native started the 2007 season by notching her first top 20 finish at the Baja Classic. She continued on the right path as she had two top 20 finishes in back-to-back tournaments, tying for ninth at Rio Verde and 19th at the UNLV Spring Invite. Just last week, the sophomore notched her first top 5 finish when she placed third at the Susie Maxwell with a Tech record low-18 of 66.
Van Niekerk's 2006 fall average was 78.00 with a low 18 of 72 and low 54 of 228. Through six spring events, she has an average of 74.17 with a low 18 of 66 and low 54 of 211. Her career average prior to the spring season was 78.63. She has shaved over one stroke from that since spring and is now averaging 77.08.
Players Mentioned
