Men's Golf Headed to NCAA Central Regional
May 09, 2005 | Men's Golf
May 9, 2005
LUBBOCK, Texas - The No. 32/34 Texas Tech men's golf team is headed to South Bend, Ind., to compete in the 2005 Men's Golf Central Regional May 19-21. The Red Raiders are making their fourth-straight appearance at the Regionals and the school's seventh overall. Tech enters the Regional as the 11th seed.
"We are excited about the opportunity to go to the Central Regional," said head coach Greg Sands.
The Red Raiders will be traveling two individuals that have Regional experience to this year's postseason. Red Raiders Andrew Dresser, who will be making his third appearance (2003,2004), and Oscar Floren who be making his second (2004), will help lead the Red and Black into a chance to qualify for Tech's second-ever NCAA Championship. Tech's last trip to a National Championship came in 2001.
Dresser, a junior from Carrollton, Texas, will also look to improve on his career-best Regional finish with his best coming in 2003 when he finished tied for eight. Dresser also finished just two strokes out of qualifying as an individual for the Championships in 2003.
Floren, a sophomore from Ljungskile, Sweden, hopes to lead the Red Raiders to a NCAA Championships while also improving on last year's finish of tied for 27th as a individual.
Tech's supporting cast, while not seasoned in Regional play, all bring with them at least three years of college experience.
Junior Nicolas Allain, a native of Deaurible, France, joined the Red Raiders this year after transferring from Oklahoma City University. Allain has been a solid No. 3 golfer for the Red Raiders, with his highest finish of tied for 22nd coming back-to-back at The Prestige and Carpet Capital Collegiate.
Senior Shaun Melville, a transfer from Oklahoma Christian University and a native of Lubbock, Texas, is definitely having his best year of his career at Tech. Melville, who has finished in the top-20 four times this season, two in the top five, has achieved all of his honors his senior year. The senior, who only competed in six tournaments for the Red and Black, last year, has competed in eight this year. Melville has finished as Tech's top golfer in two tournaments this year, and has improved his stroke average to a 74.71 for his senior year.
Junior Tyler Symons, a native of Tulsa, Okla., and a transfer from the University of New Mexico, has come on the Red Raider lineup just this spring. Symons has become a solid and consistent No. 5 golfer for Tech averaging a 75.91 on the season. The Red Raiders, since staring Symons in the lineup, have only finished out of the top-10 in one tournament this semester, four in the top eight.
Sands hopes that experience, and a focused mentality, will help the Red Raiders achieve a goal they had set since the beginning of the year.
"I think our focus all year has been to make it to Regionals, and then make the nationals cut from there," said Sands. "We have to go up there and take care of business. If we don't, there are a lot of teams that can beat us and qualify."
Tech will be competing for a spot in the NCAA Championships next week which will not come easy amongst a highly talented field. The field includes, in order of seed, Oklahoma State, Augusta State, TCU, Kentucky, Texas, Purdue, Minnesota, Michigan State, Oklahoma, Kent State, Texas Tech, SMU, Tulsa, Wichita State, Xavier, Texas A&M, Kansas, Arkansas, Baylor, Notre Dame, Lamar, Missouri, Kansas State, IUPUI, Jackson State, Detroit and Loyola-Maryland.
Tech, though it has already competed at the South Bend, Ind., and course once in the fall, will have to finish in the top 10 at the Regionals to move onto the NCAA Championships. If the Raiders do finish in the top 10, the 2004-05 squad will have brought the Tech men's golf program its second-ever trip to the NCAA Championships.
While Sands is excited about making the Regionals, he hopes his men will not stop here.
"While we are excited about making the field, we see this as just a stepping stone to our ultimate goal of making it to nationals," said Sands.
In last year's NCAA Men's Central Regional, Tech just missed its chance by eight-strokes as the Red and Black finished 13th at the event.
This year's trip to the NCAA Regionals will mark the seventh time in ten years the Red Raiders have made a trip to the post season (92', 95'-96', 02'-05').
The Warren Golf Course, the location and host of this year's 2005 Men's Golf Central Regional, is located just northeast of the University of Notre Dame campus in Southbend, Ind. The course is a par 70, 7,011 yard links course which will challenge all of the competitors in this year's field. The Red Raiders finished third in its last outing at the Warren Golf Course in the Notre Dame Invitational/Central Regional Preview, finishing in front of this year's Regional qualifiers Notre Dame, Xavier, Arkansas, Tulsa, SMU, Texas A&M and Missouri.
The NCAA Central Regional is set to begin tomorrow, May 19, and will run through Sat., May 21.
The NCAA Central Regional will feature livescoring available at www.golfstat.com throughout competition. You can also find scores and results at Texas Tech's official athletic website at www.texastech.com.
Players Mentioned
