Red Raiders Head to San Diego for Match Play Event

LUBBOCK, Texas – Fresh off its first team title of the season, the Texas Tech women's golf team will return to the links Monday morning when the Red Raiders tee off at the Lamkin Invitational, a match play event hosted at The Farms Golf Club in Rancho Sante Fe, California.

The match-play format is new this week for the Red Raiders, who could potentially see the setup again in May at the NCAA Championships. Tech would need to finish among the top eight teams following four rounds of stroke play at the national tournament, a feat the Red Raiders last accomplished back in 2015.

Tech is possibly playing its best golf at the right time of the season as the Red Raiders are coming off a second-place showing at the BYU Invitational and a first-place finish at the Valspar Augusta Invitational over Spring Break a week ago. Tech concluded its trip to Augusta with a 54-hole score of 860, matching its fourth-lowest total in program history and its lowest since 2014.

Sofia Garcia has put together one of the best player resumes in the country to lead the Red Raiders, claiming three individual titles through eight events, which is already the most in a season in program history. Her most recent medalist honor came at Augusta where she overcame a 3-over 75 opening round to combine to shoot 10-under over the final 36 holes.

Garcia will have at least two more opportunities this spring to snap the Tech career record for individual wins, which was set by her former teammate Gabby Barker. Barker similarly notched three individual wins during her Red Raider career from 2014-18.

THE LINEUP
Garcia will once again headline the Tech lineup this week as she will be joined by senior Mami Yamamoto, sophomores Amy Taylor and Louisa Brunt and freshman Anna Dong.

THE FIELD
The Red Raiders will be one of six schools ranked in the top-50 of the latest Golfstat poll to participate in the 12-team field, which also features No. 6 Vanderbilt, No. 26 Pepperdine, No. 32 San Jose State, No. 47 California and No. 49 San Diego State, the host of the three-day event. Central Arkansas, Portland State and UC Irvine round out the field.

Tech is now No. 41 in the latest Golfstat poll after the Red Raiders claimed the Valspar Augusta Invitational title just over a week ago. It was the 13th team title under JoJo Robertson, which is already the most for a head coach in program history.

THE COURSE
The Farms Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe will play at a par-72, 6,318 layout this week as San Diego State will be hosting the event for a fifth-consecutive season.

THE FORMAT
All 12 teams will play 18 holes of stroke play Monday morning to determine seeds for the match-play format. The top eight seeds will advance to the main bracket for the first round of match play later that afternoon, while the No. 9-12 seeds will face each other in round-robin matches.

Single matches in the championship, consolation and round-robin brackets will be played on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. Both days will feature a 10:30 a.m. CT shotgun start. Monday's stroke play round will begin at 10 a.m. CT.

LIVE RESULTS
Live results will be available throughout the tournament at BirdieFire.com.

UP NEXT
Tech will make its final preparations for the Big 12 Championships on April 1-2 with the Bruzzy Challenge in Dallas. The conference tournament will be two weeks later, running April 14-16 in Tulsa.

Red Raiders Head to San Diego for Match Play Event

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Players Mentioned

Gabby Barker

Louisa Brunt

Anna Dong

Sofia Garcia

Amy Taylor

Mami Yamamoto

Texas Tech University Athletics