NCAA Championships Notebook: Moving Day
May 31, 2015 | Men's Golf
Texas Tech will need to put together its best round of the weekend to keep from having to leave The Concession Golf Club.
May 31, 2015
By Travis Cram / Texas Tech Athletics Communications
BRADENTON, Fla. -- Moving day is always an interesting part of any golf tournament - amateur or pro. Elevate yourself into positioning to win or fall back and book the early flight.
In college golf, it's a two-part process with the first cut coming after 54 holes and a second coming after 72 to determine the match play bracket.
For Texas Tech, Sunday is not just moving day - it's "Decision Day."
The Red Raiders fell back one spot into 27th place on Saturday at the NCAA Men's Golf Championships at The Concession Golf Course. Tech recorded a 17-over 305 that included two, 5-over 77s and a 4-over 76 from college golf's 14th-best player, Clement Sordet.
Freshman Wes Artac, recorded the team's best single score on Saturday with a 3-over 75.
Needless to say, head coach Greg Sands is looking for a solid, if not perfect, round on Sunday for Texas Tech to have a fighting chance to make the top 15.
"We're going to have to be fairly aggressive (Sunday) in order to make a move," Sands said. "We've got to put together almost a perfect round. Maybe not perfect all the way around, but certainly going to have to play really good."
BEEN HERE BEFORE
Sands is no stranger to miraculous comebacks in the NCAA Championships. Five years ago, Tech nearly played itself out of nationals in the first round of the 2010 Championships at The Honors Course in Ooltewah, Tenn.
Tech was tied for 27th at 14-over par after one round and 20th at 11-over par after two rounds, needing to make the eight-team cut the next day after 54 holes.The third round comeback was nothing short of remarkable that day. Chris Ward and Matt Smith each recorded 5-under par 67s -- which tied Tiger Woods' course record momentarily until Oregon State's Diego Velasquez recorded a 66 that same afternoon. Tyler Weworski carded a 2-under 70 and All-American Nils Floren finished off the scoring with a 76 to give Tech an 8-under 280 and elevate the Red Raiders 13 spots into seventh place to qualify for match play for the first time.
They would eventually lose 4-1 to Florida State in the quarterfinals.
Tech will start out Sunday 15 strokes back of the 15-team cut. It may seem improbable on a course that hasn't yielded anything lower than a 4-under (Vanderbilt men) team score in eight days of the men's or women's tournament.
Just don't bother telling Sands that it's impossible.
"We're not going to give up," he said. "If you do, you're already beaten. I think the guys are going to come out and respond well (Sunday)."
ONE TOUGH PIN
One of the many reasons - and perhaps the main reason - The Concession Golf Club has played so tough is because of the undulating greens and unforgiving pin placements the last two weeks. Each green has a variety of tiers that roll off on multiple sides - meaning any amount of spin in the wrong spot could sent a four-foot shot pin-high, back down to the fairway, rough or trap.
The par-5 7th hole provided enough frustration with its pin placement to make the best of golfers walk away shaking their heads.During Tech's round on Saturday, three consecutive shots from three LSU golfers provided the perfect examples. All three hit their third approach shots just right of the pin - close to three or four feet - and all three had just enough spin to trickle back off the green into a valley 20 feet away and an easy six feet below the putting surface.
LSU's Benjamin Taylor had the toughest go of them all. He chose to putt back up the slope to try and keep the ball just close to the right side of the hole, but watched it roll right back down past his feet, giving him an even longer fifth shot back on. He would send his chip seven to eight feet past, then three-putted for an eventual eight.
There were 35 players who scored bogey or worse on the seventh hole Saturday to go along with 34 birdies.
"The locations are tough," Sands said. "So you can't always go right at the pins. You just have to pick your spots and at times, when you're short-sided, you can still hit some good shots. So we'll have to be careful here and there, but at the same time, we'll have to be fairly aggressive (Sunday) to make a move."
SCORECARD COUNT
Texas Tech
Birdies: 11 (-3 from first round)
Pars: 51 (-2 from first round)
Bogeys: 22 (+11 from first round)
Double Bogeys: 5 (-5 from first round)
Other: 1 (-1 from first round)
Best Hole: No. 17 (592-yard, Par 5) - 2 birdies, 3 pars (2-under par).
Worst Hole: No. 2 (476-yard, Par 4) - 1 triple bogey, 1 double bogey, 1 bogey, 2 pars (6-over par).
Players Mentioned
