Texas Tech Announces 2017-18 Women's Golf Schedule

LUBBOCK, Texas – Following its second NCAA Championships appearance in the last three years, the Texas Tech women's golf team will start the 2017-18 season on Sept. 11 at the Jim West Challenge in Houston, head coach JoJo Robertson announced Monday morning.

The Lady Raiders will take part in 12 regular-season tournaments before hopefully earning their eighth NCAA Regional selection under Robertson, who enters her ninth season at the helm. The Big 12 Championships will mark Tech's final event before the postseason as the annual tournament will be held April 20-22 at the Dallas Athletic Club.

"We are very excited about this year's schedule," Robertson said. "We have the chance to stay close to home during the fall and play some great events all in Texas. We have added some new tournaments for the spring that we are looking forward to playing. I think our schedule takes us to some great courses and will give us the chance to compete against several strong teams."

The Lady Raiders' fall season will consist of four tournaments, all of which will be held in the Lone Star State. In addition to the Jim West Challenge (Sept. 11-12), Tech will also participate in the Betsy Rawls Invitational (Oct. 9-10) in Austin, the Maryb S. Kauth Invitational (Oct. 22-24) in San Antonio and the Trinity Forest Invitational (Oct. 30-31) in Dallas.

The spring season gets an early start in mid-February as the Lady Raiders will once again travel to the Lady Puerto Rico Classic (Feb. 11-13) in San Juan. This will be eighth time under Robertson for Tech to play in the Lady Puerto Rico Classic, which annually draws one of the most-challenging fields in college golf.

From there, Tech will return to Houston to play in the Dickson Invitational (Feb. 26-27) held in Houston. The month of March will see Tech traveling to St. George, Utah, for the Entrada Classic (March 12-13) as well as to Charleston, South Carolina for the Briar's Creek Invitational (March 19-20).

The Lady Raiders return to Dallas again to start the month of April for the Bruzzy Challenge (April 1-2) before turning around to head to Tulsa, Oklahoma for the Dale McNamara Invitational (April 9-10). Both tournaments are new additions to Tech's typical spring slate.

For the first time in her tenure, Robertson has entered Tech into the Lady Boilermaker Invitational (April 14-14) hosted by Purdue. Robertson began her collegiate coaching career at Purdue, spending seasons there before arriving in Lubbock prior to the 2019-10 campaign. The tournament is the Lady Raiders' final event prior to the Big 12 Championships.

The Lady Raiders return four members from this past season's postseason lineup, including a pair of seniors in Gabby Barker and Lauren Mason. Barker, the 2016 Big 12 Player of the Year, enters her senior year chasing current LPGA standout Kim Kaufman's school record for career scoring average as Barker is averaging 73.4 swings per round, just behind Kaufman's mark of 73.0 from the 2019-13 seasons.

The list of returners also features juniors Mami Yamamoto and Emma Ballard as well as sophomore Sofia Garcia, who broke the Tech single-season stroke average for a freshman after averaging a team-best 73.6 strokes per round. Tech also brings in one freshman in Louisa Brunt, one of the top amateur players in her native England.

For complete coverage of the Lady Raiders on-and-off the course, follow @TexasTechWGolf on Twitter or "Like" the team's official Facebook page.

Texas Tech Announces 2017-18 Women's Golf Schedule

Players Mentioned

Emma Ballard

Gabby Barker

Sofia Garcia

Lauren Mason

Mami Yamamoto

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