Texas Tech University Athletics
Big 12 Title on the Line at Prairie Dunes
April 19, 2007 | Men's Golf
April 19, 2007
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LUBBOCK, Texas - The Texas Tech men's golf schedule winds down as the Red Raiders will next take on the conference members at the Big 12 Championship from Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan. This season marks the eighth time since the conference's inception in 1996 that the title event has been played at the course. The 54-hole contest will feature the first two rounds on Mon., April 23rd with the final 18 holes on Tues., April 24th.
The No. 32-ranked Red Raiders will be using a familiar lineup, as the same members have participated in the last three tournaments for Tech. The team of Oscar Floren, Santiago Rivas, Garrett Merrell, Will Griffin and Matt Smith has been averaging 288 per round, even-par. Steady improvement has been characteristic of this squad, as they first finished 13-over par with a 589 at the Morris Williams and most recently wrapped up the ASU Thunderbird with a 9-under 855.
The Red Raiders will be looking to continue their somewhat steady climb in the final standings of the Big 12 Championship as they begin play Monday. Golf Stat will be featuring live scoring of the event at www.golfstatresults.com. Texas Tech's official athletic site, www.texastech.com, will have a complete recap of each day's action.
THE COURSE
The 2007 Big 12 Championship will be played out in Hutchinson, Kan., at the Prairie Dunes Country Club, a par-70 course that will be played to 6,593 yards. The course has hosted the conference tournament on seven occasions during the Big 12's first 10 years (1997-2002, 04). Prairie Dunes has been recognized by all of the major golf magazines with honors including Golf Digest's 2001 Best 99 Holes in the U.S. (#2, #8, #10), Golf Magazine's 2001 No. 21 Best Golf Course in the World, Golf Digest's 2003 No. 25 of America's Greatest Golf Courses and Golf Week's 2004 No. 13 of America's Best Classical Golf Courses.
Prairie Dunes has hosted several big-name events besides the Big 12 Championship. The U.S. Men's Senior Amateur in 1995 went to the course, as well as the 2002 U.S. Women's Open and most recently the 2006 U.S. Senior Open.
THE BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP FIELD
The 12 conference members will be facing each other for the 11th time in the Big 12's history. This season has four-time Big 12 champion Oklahoma State entering as the favorite with a top-field ranking of ninth in the Golfweek/Sagarin performance index. No. 14 Texas A&M will be hoping to upset the Cowboys and win their first conference title.
The remaining Texas teams fill out the top-five ranked programs, with No. 28 Texas, No. 32 Texas Tech and No. 43 Baylor. The rest of the Big 12 members and their ranks are as follows: No. 64 Colorado, No. 67 Kansas, No. 85 Nebraska, No. 90 Oklahoma, No. 101 Iowa State, No. 110 Missouri and No. 131 Kansas State.
The Red Raiders have established a winning record against the nine teams that they have previously faced this year as Tech is 14-11 (.560). Versus Baylor, Colorado, Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri, Tech is 7-0 and also has winning records against Oklahoma (3-1) and Texas (3-2). The Red Raiders are 0-3 with Oklahoma State and 1-5 against Texas A&M.
THE LAST TEE
April 15, 2007
TEMPE, Ariz. -- During the final round of the ASU Thunderbird Invitational, the Red Raiders finished with a 4-under par round of 284 to move up two positions and finish seventh. The effort comes after two Texas Tech individuals put together top-20 finishes, with senior Oscar Floren leading the way tying for ninth.
Floren, a 2006 PING All-American, finished his final regular-season tournament with a team-low third round of 67, 5-under-par. The ninth-place finish marks the 21st career-top-10 finish for the Sweden native. Floren carded rounds of 71-73-67--210 (-6).
Freshman Matt Smith, who carded a career-low round of 67 during Friday's action, completed the Thunderbird with additional career numbers. In his fourth event with Tech, Smith posted rounds of 67-72-73--211 to finish with a low-54 hole score. The spring newcomer tied for 11th, besting his previous top finish of 42nd from the Morris Williams Intercollegiate in March.
Red Raiders sophomore Garrett Merrell and freshman Will Griffin each fired even-par 72 during Sunday's final round to finish in a tie for 37th. Merrell turned in rounds of 69-77-72--218, while Griffin had scores of 74-72-72--218. Tech's fifth member, Santiago Rivas, finished with rounds of 72-75-75--222 to tie for 55th position.
Unranked Oregon maintained the lead throughout the 54-hole tournament and took the title with scores of 277-279-288--844 (-20). No. 18 Arizona State and No. 4 USC finished in second and third with 847 and 849, respectively. The Red Raiders finished with rounds of 279-292-284--855, three shots from the top five.
New Mexico's Charlie Beljan took the individual title with a 15-under 201, taking the lead from Oregon's Derek Sipe who finished with a 12-under 204.
BIG 12 HISTORY
Texas Tech's history during the Big 12 Championships began at a low but has somewhat steadily improved each year following. During 1997's inaugural conference title tournament, the Red Raiders finished last with high scores of 306-325-321--952. Nine years later, last season, the Tech team tied for fourth, marking their highest finish at the Big 12. Four times two Red Raiders have finished in the top 20, including last season with Andrew Dresser and Jake Younan-Wise. Senior Oscar Floren is the only Tech member who returns after having previously finished in the top 20, as he tied for ninth during his freshman campaign on the Prairie Dunes course in 2004.
Year:Finish, Score; Top 20 Finishers
1997: 12th, 306-325-321--952; n/a
1998: 11th, 326-312-309--947; n/a
1999: 11th, 297-310-309--916; n/a
2000: 8th, 291-291-313--895; t6: David Bolen, 216
2001: 10th, 338-313-303--954; t16: Mark Hull, 230
2002: 6th, 297-294-286--877; t6: Kyle Willman, 212; t18: David Bolen, 220
2003: 5th, 312-300-311--923; t10: Andrew Dresser, 227; t16: Erik Stenman, 230
2004: t5th, 294-303-296--893; t9: Oscar Floren, 219; t20: Andrew Dresser, 224
2005: 8th, 299-310-309--918; t18: Shaun Melville, 217
2006: t4th, 289-292-295--876; t4: Andrew Dresser, 214; t14: Jake Younan-Wise, 219
*Bold indicates Tech's best numbers at Championship
Players Mentioned
