Overseas Course Awaits Tech
August 31, 2006 | Men's Golf
Aug. 31, 2006
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TEEING OFF
The 2006-07 edition of Texas Tech men's golf gets its start nearly half a world away in Scotland. The Red Raiders will join nine other teams, including three international teams, at the International Collegiate to be played in St. Andrews, Scotland. The tournament gets underway with the first 36 holes on Saturday, September 2nd. The conclusion to the tournament will take place on Sunday with the final 18 holes.
THE COURSE
The tournament will take place at one of St. Andrews' cliff top courses, the Torrance Golf Course. The course is named after one of its designers, Sam Torrance, a former winning Ryder Cup captain. The Torrance course lays out over 7,037 yards and has a par of 72.
INTERNATIONAL COLLEGIATE FIELD
Texas Tech will be joined by nine other squads, including two Big 12 opponents. Also making the trip will be Baylor and Texas A&M. Baylor comes in as the 22nd ranked team on the final Golfweek/Sagarin performance index of last season. The top returner for the Bears is Jeremy Alcorn, who averaged 71.84 strokes and finished with four top-three finishes. A&M comes in as the top returning team of last year, having a final rank of sixth. Bronson Burgoon returns for the Aggies after shooting an average of 71.13 last year. Tech finished last season ranked 15th.
Other top schools competing are Atlantic Coast Conference's Wake Forest (11th) and North Carolina (13th). Rounding out the American schools competing are Coastal Carolina (25) and Georgia Southern (58).
Three international squads will go head-to-head with the seven United States competitors. Royal and Ancient Bursars, St. Andrews University and Stirling University will compete. St. Andrews University is said to be the oldest university in Scotland, while Stirling is rather new, being founded in 1967.
THE FINAL TEE
The last tournament that the Red Raiders competed in was the 2006 NCAA Championships. Despite being eliminated in the final cut, the selection to the tournament was the first since 2002 and the second overall under head coach Greg Sands. The team was selected as the No. 7 seed, which is the highest ever seed for a Tech squad.
After the first day, the Red Raiders sat in a tie for 27th with Jake Younan-Wise setting the pace for the team. Younan-Wise tallied four birdies and finished round one tied for 28th with a 1-under 70.
During the second day of play, Tech improved their first round score by seven strokes, to finish with 290 and climb to 18th place. Younan-Wise yet again led the team, firing a 2-under 68. The round brought him into a tie for 13th place.
In the third round then-freshman Brandon Lakatta fired a hole-in-one to ignite an early surge by Tech. The deficit was too much to overtake as the Red Raiders shot a 305 to finish in 27th. Now-graduated senior Andrew Dresser finished as the highest placed Red Raider in 63rd with a final round of even-par 71.
PRESEASON RECOGNITION
The Texas Tech men's golf team has been ranked 24th in Golf World's College Preview coaches poll. Senior Red Raider Oscar Floren has also been listed on the "Top 50 Male Players to Watch," ranking ninth. Oklahoma State swept the top honors in the college preview, earning the first-place position ahead of UCLA. Pablo Martin of Oklahoma State topped the male players list, with Cowboy Jonathan Moore second. Besides Texas Tech and Oklahoma State, the only other conference school in the rankings is Texas A&M (7). Texas and Baylor received votes.
Players Mentioned
