Texas Tech University Athletics
Sands: Regional Experience Prepares Red Raiders for NCAA Championships
May 16, 2015 | Men's Golf
Greg Sands has the Red Raiders in the NCAA Championships for the sixth time in his tenure after Texas Tech finished in second place Saturday at the Lubbock Regional held at The Rawls Course.
May 16, 2015
By Matt Dowdy, Athletics Communications
LUBBOCK, Texas - For the first time during the NCAA Lubbock Regional, the back nine was unfriendly to Texas Tech.
The Red Raiders, who closed Friday's second round by going 5-under-par on the last five holes, finished 4-over on the back nine Saturday, dropping them into second place behind top-seeded Texas following a 2-under 282 final round at The Rawls Course.
"I loved the way we started. We played really well," Texas Tech head coach Greg Sands said. "We unfortunately were really sloppy from holes 13-16 and just had some bad breaks. It gave Texas a little bit of a lead that they couldn't relinquish."
5 teams advancing out of Lubbock regional: @UTexasGolf, @TTUMensGolf, @Duke_MGOLF, @AuburnMGolf, @UHCougarGolf
-- Ryan Lavner (@RyanLavnerGC) May 16, 2015
The two teams went back-and-forth atop the leaderboard over the front nine as the Red Raiders were 6-under at the turn before finding trouble. Tech suffered a pair of bogeys at the 12th and then six more over the next two holes.
Despite finishing just shy of the team title, Tech will advance to the NCAA Championships along with Texas, Duke, Auburn and a Houston team that survived a one-hole playoff with Purdue for the final slot.
"The main goal was to make nationals," said Tech senior Clement Sordet, who shared medalist honors with Blair Hamilton from Houston. "Coach (Sands) talked about winning the tournament, but the first goal was finishing in the top five and advancing to nationals."
It will be the 11th all-time appearance in the NCAA Championships for the Red Raiders and the sixth under Sands -- who is more than familiar with the national stage after leading Tech to a fifth-place finish at the tournament in 2010.
The experience of a final-round showdown with a national-title contender like Texas is one Sands said will benefit the Red Raiders in Florida. Tech previously topped the Longhorns during the Red Raider Shootout, a match play event held at The Rawls Course this past April.
"We have battled Texas a lot lately and all that stuff helps you learn," Sands said. "That's part of the process. It's just going to take getting hot at the right time at nationals. You can't take back what we learned out there today. It was really good stuff."
Tech heads to the NCAA Championships on a roll as the Red Raiders have finished at least second in each of their last five tournaments, including a pair of victories at Lone Star Invitational and then the Red Raider Shootout.
Possibly the most difficult part of that stretch is over, though, as the Red Raiders, the No. 2 seed in the regional, withstood the pressure of playing on its home course where many expected Tech to easily finish among the top-five teams.
Easily advance they did, topping the rest of the field by at least 10 strokes and extending a season that could go down as one of the best ever at Tech.
"It never gets old - it's always fun to make nationals," Sands said. "I thought there was a little extra pressure being at home and having those expectations. I know I felt it a little bit but the guys did great. The goal was to advance, so in that regard, I was happy."
Players Mentioned
