Red Raiders Ready for Big 12 Match Play Tournament

LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech will compete in the inaugural Big 12 Match Play Tournament this weekend at the Club at Houston Oaks with matches on Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Hockley, Texas.

The Red Raiders are in Pool A with Oklahoma State, Kansas, TCU and West Virginia and will be represented by Adam Blomme, Kyle Hogan, Ivan Ramirez, Sandy Scott, Markus Braadlie, Thomas Allkins and Andy Lopez. The team begins the tournament against the top-ranked Cowboys at 8 a.m. on Friday in the first match of the event. The Big 12 is the first conference to host its own Match Play tournament, utilizing the format that determines the NCAA Men's Golf national champion in the spring.

"We've been working really hard and I know it's going to pay off, but it's really important that we go and learn some things about ourselves at the match play," Texas Tech coach Greg Sands said. "We need to work on not giving away some holes and being aggressive where you can be aggressive because it is match play. I think the most important thing is trying to learn the course the best we can and then trying to find some spots we can be more aggressive since it is match play. We should get a top three seed our first round, so I know the guys will relish the opportunity to play them and beat them."

The first session will begin at 8 a.m. and the second session will begin at 1:30 p.m. each day at the 7,007-yard, par-71 course.

Teams were seeded 1-10 based on the squads' combined Golfweek/Sagarin and Golfstat rankings entering the tournament with Texas Tech coming in at No. 8. The updated rankings put Oklahoma State atop the seeding and positioned Texas, Baylor, Iowa State and Kansas State in Pool B. The event will be played over three days consisting of Pool Play for two-and-a-half days (five sessions) followed by a Championship Round the afternoon of day three. Match Play will be conducted during all rounds.

During the Pool Play portion, each team will play four matches. Teams will get three points for a win and one point for a draw. At the conclusion of Pool Play, each team will be ranked 1-5 within their pool based on the amount of points accrued. The Championship Match will feature the team with the highest point total from Pool A and the team with the highest point total from Pool B.

"The golf course is really fair and the greens are always really good so you can really play well if you get the ball going where you want it," Sands said.

Live scoring and results will be available on Golfstat.com and Big12Sports.com.

Texas Tech is playing in its third of four fall tournaments after opening the season at The Carmel Cup in Pebble Beach, California and the Showdown in the Rockies in Idaho. The Red Raiders are coming off a second-place finish in Idaho with Scott leading the team by finishing fourth by shooting 8-under-par during his three rounds and Hogan (3-under) taking seventh. Ramirez shot 8-under at The Carmel Cup to open his senior season with a ninth-place showing.

"Similar to what baseball has done, we want to create the same atmosphere here where it is Omaha or not a very good season," Sands said. "It starts at the top. Adam and Ivan have bene very good seniors for us so far. They have probably been the hardest workers. Adam has come out quite a bit on his own, but what it's going to take is a little bit of hard work. Over the course of the season, those days you put in extra really pay off at the end."

The team will finish its fall schedule at the Isleworth Collegiate on Oct. 21-23 in Orlando, Florida.

Texas Tech University Athletics

Red Raiders Ready for Big 12 Match Play Tournament

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Thomas Allkins

Adam Blomme

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Kyle Hogan

Andy Lopez

Ivan Ramirez

Sandy Scott

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