Texas Tech Athletics
NCAA Central Regional
Ward Paces Tech Early at NCAA Regionals
May 15, 2008 | Men's Golf
May 15, 2008
LUBBOCK, Texas - If there were silver linings on an otherwise odd first round of the NCAA West Regional in Bremerton, Wash., No. 22 Texas Tech men's golf could find them in Sophomore Chris Ward's steady round of even-par 72, strong finishes after struggling in the middle and coming in two-shots ahead of No. 9 Florida State. The Red Raiders finished the day at 14-over 302, seven shots back of the eighth spot.
Being away from competition for nearly three weeks did not show early on as Tech fired steady rounds early to put itself amongst the leaders through the first five holes. A few holes came back to bite the majority of the Red Raiders as several double-bogey holes cost Tech precious spots in the standings and put it in a tie for 13th. The top 10 squads at the conclusion of competition move on to the NCAA Championships.
Coming off a fourth-place finish at the Big 12 Championships and an all-conference recognition, Ward actually struggled early on, bogeying two of the first three holes. The McKinney, Texas, product rebounded strong with a birdie on four before settling into a groove of nine consecutive par holes. The Oklahoma State transfer picked up another birdie on 14 and shot par through final four holes to come in at an even-par 72. Freshman Sergio Franky turned the second best round of the day for the Red Raiders with a three-over 75 to tie for 49th. The first year player started strong, shooting one under through the first eight holes before a double bogey on nine set him back. He had another double bogey on 13 before finishing the final five holes strong, including a birdie on 18.
Santiago Rivas also opened up strong, shooting even-par through the first eight holes. A trio of holes in the middle bit the junior, however, as he finished the day at five-over 77 to put him in a tie for 82nd. Garrett Merrell turned in a 78 to tie for 99th, while Will Griffin fired an 80 to conclude Tech's scoring.
No. 48 Oregon claimed its stake at the top of the standings after firing a one-over 289 for the day. No. 2 USC, No. 4 UCLA and host Washington are all two strokes back in second at 291. No. 45 Pepperdine (292) is in fifth, with Saint Mary (CA) (294) in sixth and No. 14 Clemson and No. 20 North Carolina (295) tied for seventh. No. 11 Stanford (296) and No. 36 Texas (299) are ninth and 10th, respectively.
No. 25 Central Florida and No. 17 UNLV are tied for 11th at 301, with Tech, No. 32 Oregon State, No. 42 San Diego State and Kentucky all tied for 13th. They are followed by No. 9 Florida State, No. 38 LSU, No. 29 Arizona State and Wisconsin all at 304. The bottom of the Standings has No. 50 California (305), Kansas State (305), Oklahoma (306), San Diego (308), Denver (309), Navy (312) and Columbia (314) in that order.
The Ducks' Joey Benedetti leads the individual standings at three-under 69, while Pepperdine's Eric Shriver is one stroke back in second. Four golfers are tied for third, while Ward and 10 others are tied for eighth. The nation's No. 3 golfer, USC's Jamie Lovemark is in that group.
Second-round action at the Gold Mountain Golf Club is set to get under way at 9:17 CST, with the first Tech golfers teeing off shortly before 10 a.m. Live stats and results can be found at www.golfstat.com.
Players Mentioned
