The Texas Tech men’s golf team had to settle for a higher finish at the NCAA championships than perhaps anyone except they themselves expected.
The Red Raiders finished 10th, spending much of their round on Monday, May 26, in Carlsbad, California, outside the circle of eight teams who will play on after Memorial Day. Those eight advance to a match-play bracket that starts on Tuesday, May 27, at the Omni La Costa. The Red Raiders missed that cut by three strokes.
It was Texas Tech’s sixth time to finish in the top 10 at the NCAA championships.
Tech came into the 30-team tournament with a No. 24 national ranking in the Bushnell/Golfweek Division I coaches poll and a No. 19 seed. The Red Raiders made the cut to 15 teams by tying for low score of the day in the do-or-die third round, but couldn’t make the magic happen two days in a row.
On Tuesday, Calum Scott shot 1-under-par 71, Tim Wiedemeyer 72, Ben Gregg 73 and Connor Graham 74. In the five-count-four format, Tech’s discard score was Charlie DeLong’s 78.
The 2-over team score put the Red Raiders 14-over after 72 holes, two back of Florida State, the first team out.
The eight teams advancing to match play are Arizona State, Auburn, Florida, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Virginia and Mississippi. Arizona State finished 13-under, Ole Miss 11-over.
Ole Miss’s Michael La Sasso earned the individual NCAA title by shooting 11-under, two strokes better than Texas A&M’s Phichaksn Maichon. They both carded even-par 72 in the fourth round.
Among the Red Raiders, Scott finished tied for 27th at 2-over, Graham tied for 50th at 6-over and DeLong tied for 55th at 7-over. Gregg tied for 60th at 9-over, and Wiedemeyer tied for 66th at 11-over.
Scott, a senior from Nairn, Scotland, and DeLong, a senior from DeWitt, Michigan, were playing their last tournaments for the Red Raiders. Gregg’s a sophomore from Richardson Pearce, Wiedemeyer a sophomore from Olching, Germany, and Graham a freshman from Blairgowrie, Scotland.
Tech’s other top-10 finishes were a tie for 10th in 1956, a tie for seventh in 1959 and match-play quarterfinal losses in 2010, 2018 and 2022.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech golf finishes 10th at NCAA championships, missing match-play cut by 3
Reporting by Don Williams, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal / Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
