Texas Tech University Athletics
Golfers in Hunt for Another Top Five Finish
March 27, 2008 | Men's Golf
March 27, 2008
LUBBOCK, Texas - Will Griffin and Garrett Merrell are tied for 10th place overall to lead No. 23 Texas Tech after two rounds at the Western Intercollegiate in Santa Cruz, Calif. The two helped pace Tech to a plus-35 595, just eight strokes out of fifth, on Wednesday to put the team in the hunt for its sixth top-five finish this year.
Michigan State currently sits atop the leaderboard at seven-over 567. The Spartans are followed by St. Mary's at plus-21 581 and California at plus-25 585 for the top spots. Fellow Big 12 competitor Colorado (586) is in fourth, with UC Irvine (587), Northwestern (588), UC Santa Barbara (591), Nevada (592) and Tech (595) among those teams sniffing at the heels. San Jose State (605), Santa Clara (606), Long Beach State (611), Hawaii (612), Fresno State (617) and Columbia (620) round off the team standings.
Tech did not get off to the start it hoped for coming out of the gate in round one, but Griffin's birdies on three of the last five holes and Santiago Rivas' three birdies on the front nine helped keep the Red Raiders in striking distance of the leaders. Merrell, who has paced the squad this spring, played a consistent second round to card a solid 71 and lead Tech in the second round. Rivas finished the round at 73, with Griffin coming in at 74 to lead the way.
Three Red Raiders currently sit in the top 20, with Merrell (75-71) and Griffin (72 -74) in 10th at six-over 146. Rivas (75-73 - 148) sits in a tie for 20th. Matt Smith (76-79 - 155) and Sergio Franky (77-81 - 158) wrapped up the scoring for Tech.
Final round play at the Pasatiempo Golf Course is set to get under way Thursday morning. Live scoring can be found at www.golfstat.com.
Players Mentioned
