Texas Tech University Athletics
Griffin, Rivas Lead Red Raiders on Day One
May 30, 2007 | Men's Golf
May 30, 2007
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - Will Griffin and Santiago Rivas fired two-over par 72s to lead the Red Raiders in the opening round of the NCAA Men's Golf Championships at Golden Horseshoe Golf Club in Williamsburg, Va., but Texas Tech has a steep hill to climb after turning in a 13-over 293. Both Griffin and Rivas are tied in 66th place in the 156-player field.
"I'm extremely disappointed with the mindset of our guys," Tech Head Coach Greg Sands said. "I thought we were ready to go. I thought we prepared well and were looking good, but in this game you never really know, and that's the thing that's hard to communicate."
The Red Raiders closed the day in a tie for 26th place with Wake Forest and New Mexico and lead only Duke and Auburn in 29th and 30th places, respectively. Stanford leads the tournament with a team-total of five under, while Coastal Carolina in two strokes behind in second place. Florida, Minnesota and Texas are all tied for third and round out the top five.
Griffin was one under after birdying the 14th hole, but a bogey on 15 and a double bogey on the final hole shot the freshman to over-par golf on the afternoon, while Rivas chipped away at a double-bogey on the par-3 third with a birdie at the sixth to finish the front nine at plus-one. A bogey on the par-4 11th hole pushed the sophomore to two over.
Senior Oscar Floren is tied in 107th and was four over on the day after carding a 74 in the opening round. Floren was even on the front, but struggled on the back with a double-bogey at 10 and a pair of bogeys at 14 and 18. Freshman Matt Smith led off the day for the Red Raiders and birdied the first hole. However, subsequent bogeys at three, four and nine and three bogeys on the back dropped him to five over and in a 126th-place tie.
Sophomore Garrett Merrell was six over on the day, including four over on the back nine to finish tied for 132nd. The top four scores count against the team score each day.
After nine holes Texas Tech stood at two over and was in the mix among the top five teams in the standings; but the back nine proved to be the Red Raiders undoing today, as the combined team score was 11-over par.
Sands added that nothing short of outstanding play the next two days will be acceptable if the Red Raiders are to advance to Saturday's final round.
"We're either going to go home or play good tomorrow - it's pretty simple," Sands said. "We don't have any time now. When you play poorly and get in the bottom five or wherever we are going to be, we really have to get after it for two days to make the cut."
For complete results and live scoring throughout the event, log-on to www.golfstatresults.com.
Players Mentioned
