Texas Tech University Athletics
Texas Tech Athletics
Amer Ari Invitational
Red Raiders In Sixth After Opening Round In Hawaii
February 04, 2016 | Men's Golf
Hayden Springer shot a -5 31 on the back nine, on his way to a first-round 68.
Feb. 4, 2016
KONA, Hawaii -- The Texas Tech men's golf team shot a -4 284 in round one of the Amer Ari Invitational, in Kona, Hawaii, on Thursday, and find themselves in sixth place overall, in the 19-team field.Bang! #BackToBack 🐥 on 17 & 18 from Hurly Long give Tech the overall team lead, and put him in first place (-4) individually! #WreckEm
-- Texas Tech Mens Golf (@TTUMensGolf) February 4, 2016
At the time, Long was four-under-par and was in sole possession of the tournament's individual lead. From there, he went on to par holes 1-3 before bogeying the fourth. He rebounded by getting a birdie on the fifth, but was set back again by a double bogey on the sixth. He finished his round with a 70, two-under par.
Hannes Ronneblad and Henry Todd combined for seven birdies, but both ended up with a double-bogey sixth on the par-4 16th, and carded a one-under 71.
Devin Jackson, in his first appearance as a Red Raider, started by firing a one-under 35 on the front nine. From there he bogeyed the par-5 2nd, but birdied the 4th. However, he finished his round with back-to-back bogeys to finish with an even-par 72. Federico Zucchetti followed a similar path, shooting a 35 on his first nine before turning in a three-over 39 on his final nine holes. He finished with a two-over 74.
"I thought we had some really good things happen today," Texas Tech head coach Greg Sands said. "I loved the way we started, but we just couldn't quite capitalize and finish the round. I'm looking forward to tomorrow, and doing our best to clean up mistakes."
Perhaps the story of the day was Red Raider freshman Hayden Springer, playing as an individual, separate from the team score. He threw together an impressive four-under 68. He was one-over-par through five holes but recorded birdies on 4, 10, 12, 14 and 16 to register a -5 31 on the back nine. He currently sits in third place on the individual side.
"I was really impressed with Hayden," Sands said. "This was his third tournament as a Red Raider and for him to perform like that really showed a lot about the kind of player he can be. Closing a round the way he did is really special. I thought Devin Jackson was impressive as well. Contributing to the team score in his first appearance, especially against this field, and performing well is awesome."
Nine teams in Golfstat's top 40 are participating in the tournament, led by No. 5 Stanford and No. 7 USC, who are tied atop the leaderboard at -10. No. 1 Auburn is also in the field, but the Tigers struggled in round one, carding a five-over 293.
The Red Raiders will begin tomorrow's second round at 11:30 a.m. CT, and it will be a shotgun start. Live results will be available at golfstat.com.
Visit www.TexasTech.com for the latest news and information on the men's golf program. Fans also can follow the program on its social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/TTUMensGolf and @TTUMensGolf on Twitter.
Players Mentioned
