Texas Tech University Athletics
Big 12 Championships Time for Lady Raider Golf
April 23, 2008 | Women's Golf
April 23, 2008
LUBBOCK, Texas - On the heels of a highly-successful spring campaign, No. 47 Texas Tech women's golf will look to carry that momentum over in to this weekend's Big 12 Women's Golf Championships at the Karsten Creek Golf Course in Stillwater, Okla. Friday through Sunday.
The format for the event will consist of 18 holes being played each of the three days. All 12 schools from the conference will converge on the par-72, 6,210-yard course, with Oklahoma State serving as the tournament host.
The Lady Raiders will be looking to improve on last year's Big 12 finish as they had some struggles while coming in 11th. Tech's best finish in the event came in 1999 when it finished third. The Lady Raiders look to be in prime position for a strong finish this year as they have recorded a program-best seven top five finishes on the year while shattering school records for the lowest round score with a 286 and the lowest 54-hole score at 869. Tech has also shot its way to four consecutive top-five finishes in their last four events. The squad boasts one tournament win on the year, capturing the McHaney/Morehead Invitational in October. In the event, the Lady Raiders bested conference foes Colorado by 20 strokes and Oklahoma by 27 strokes.
Tech coach Stacey Totman will look to a lineup of Megan Dowdy, Ulrika Van Niekerk, Robyn Scott, Rosalyn Kim and Stephanie Smith this weekend. Dowdy, a junior, leads the team with a 75.62 stroke average this year and has arguably been Tech's most consistent golfer over both the fall and spring campaigns. The Leander, Texas, native has four top 20 finishes in eight events on the year, including a second-place showing at the McHaney/Morehead Invitational. Van Niekerk is close behind with a 75.83 stroke average over a team-high 30 rounds. The junior from Capetown, South Africa enjoyed a particularly hot stretch in March when she tied the second-lowest round in school history at 68 before firing a six-under 210 to finish in second place at the UNLV Spring Invitational.
After competing in only one event in the fall due to injury, Robyn Scott has been a fixture in the Lady Raiders' lineups during the spring. The true freshman is coming off the best showing of her young career with an eighth-place 226 outing at the BYU Dixie Classic. Kim has been a steady cog for Totman all year and carries two top-20 finishes into the event. Arguably no Tech golfer has seen as much improvement in her game as Smith has this year, though. The Woodlands, Texas, product lowered her stroke average by over three whole strokes from the fall to the spring and is carrying a 75.6 stroke average and three top-20 finishes from the spring season.
Action for the event looks to be highly competitive as six teams enter the event ranked among the top 50 squads in the country. The ninth-ranked Cowgirls are the highest ranked team, with No. 21 Texas, No. 22 Texas A&M, No. 41 Oklahoma, Tech and No. 50 Missouri serving as the others. The field also boasts seven of the top 100 golfers in the nation, with OSU's Pernilla Lindberg being the highest ranked at No. 9. Dowdy is Tech's highest ranked competitor at 239. Only four schools have won the crown in the history of the event, with OSU leading the way at five conference championships. A&M won the event last year, while Amanda Costner of Kansas claimed the individual title.
The Lady Raiders will take time to familiarize themselves with the course and practice Thursday before teeing off competition Friday at 9 a.m. CT. Live scoring can be found at www.golfstat.com each day of the event.
