LUBBOCK, Texas – A new season begins Monday for the No. 23 Texas Tech women’s golf team.
The Red Raiders, coming off possibly its most successful two-month stretch in recent history, will be in the 8 a.m. tee group Monday morning when Tech opens the NCAA Louisville Regional hosted at the University of Louisville Golf Club.
The start of the regional likely couldn’t come at a better time for the Red Raiders, who have put together an impressive run to the postseason with two team titles and two runner-up finishes since March alone. Tech has boasted a pair of individual medalists during that stretch, too, in junior Sofia Garcia and redshirt freshman Gala Dumez.
The Red Raiders won’t necessarily have to finish first or second this week for it to be considered a good week as Tech needs to only rank among the top-six schools in the 18-team field to advance to the NCAA Championships for the fourth time in program history and the third time under head coach JoJo Robertson.
Tech is the No. 6 seed in this week’s regional as the Red Raiders will be matched up against top-seeded South Carolina as well as No. 2 seed Florida State, No. 3 Auburn, No. 4 Texas and No. 5 Arkansas. No. 7 UCLA followed the Red Raiders as well as No. 8 Michigan State, No. 9 UCF and No. 10 Tennessee.
The Red Raiders will need to stick to that top-six seeding to return to the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2017 when Tech served as a regional host, finishing fifth overall at The Rawls Course. Tech has made two other trips to the national tournament, which came in 1996 when the Red Raiders closed the NCAA West Regional in ninth place and then again in 2015 with another fifth-place finish at the NCAA San Antonio Regional.
Robertson will turn to a similar lineup she utilized at the Big 12 Championships, sending Garcia and Dumez to Louisville as well as junior Amy Taylor and sophomores Cecilie Nielsen and Anna Dong. That lineup turned in a second-place finish at the Big 12 Championships, the highest for the Red Raiders in program history.
Tech battled back from a difficult opening round at the conference tournament thanks in part to the play of Dumez, who combined to shoot a Big 12 Championships and school 54-hole record at 14-under-par 202. She became the first Red Raider all-time to claim the Big 12 individual title.
The Red Raiders will have some familiarity with their playing partners Monday as Tech is paired with Big 12 counterpart Texas as well as Arkansas. The three schools will go off the 10th tee beginning with Taylor at 8 a.m. Monday.
Live results will be available throughout the regional at www.Golfstat.com.
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
Dates: May 10-12
Format: 54 holes, stroke play
Tee Times: Determined daily by team standings
Site: University of Louisville Golf Club
Host School: Louisville
Course par and yardage: Par 72, 6,289 yards
Tournament Field (Golfstat Ranking): South Carolina (1), Florida State (8), Auburn (9), Texas (16), Arkansas (17), Texas Tech (23), UCLA (25), Michigan State (32), UCF (34), Tennessee (39), North Florida (41), Louisville (48), UTSA (51), Mercer (56), College of Charleston (58), Xavier (96), James Madison (118), Fairleigh Dickinson (197).
On site.
Practice round today and then first 1??8?? holes tomorrow ??#WreckEm | #NCAAGolf pic.twitter.com/SOWo17M0PN
— Texas Tech Women’s Golf (@TexasTechWGolf) May 9, 2021