Texas Tech University Athletics
Men's Golf Makes Its First NCAA Appearance Since 1996
May 06, 2002 | Men's Golf
May 6, 2002
LUBBOCK, Texas - After finishing in sixth place at the Big 12 Men's Golf Championship last week in Hutchinson, Kan., and still one tournament left in its regular season to play, the Texas Tech men's golf team has good news to swing about. The Red Raiders were selected by the NCAA Committee to be one of 27 teams to compete May 16-18 in the NCAA West Regional in Albuquerque, N.M.
At the helm of the Tech men's golf program for the second year, Greg Sands has turned the program around making it very competitive for every player on the team to earn a very limited one-of-five spot at every tournament. Sands have taken the Red Raiders from 175th place last season to the top 30 at the end of a spectacular fall 2001 season. And they have remained in the top 50 throughout the spring campaign.
The last time the Tech men's golf team made a postseason debut was in 1996 when the Red Raiders received an automatic bid to the NCAA Regional after winning the Southwest Conference championship. Tech has not appeared in postseason play since the inception of the Big 12 Conference.
"We're excited about this chance to compete in the NCAA West Regional," said coach Greg Sands. "I think it's great since we (Tech men's golf) haven't advanced in postseason since 1996. Our focus is to go to nationals and this is definitely a step towards it."
Tech and the University of Texas are the only schools from the Big 12 Conference squaring off against several tough West coast schools that includes nine conference champions in the NCAA West Regional
