Feb. 19, 2008

LUBBOCK, Texas - On a day when only eight of 90 golfers in the field shot par or better in the final round, Texas Tech managed to finish in second place at the UTSA Invitational at Oak Hills Country Club in San Antonio on Tuesday. Despite no Red Raiders or members of tournament champion Mississippi State shooting par or better, the top two ranked teams in the field managed to secure their places from the second round.

Texas Tech was able to stave off a surging Oklahoma team that carded the second-best team round of the day with a 286. The Sooners finished with a team total of 874, one shot back of Tech. Mississippi State took home top team honors with an 864.

Junior Garrett Merrell led the Red Raiders for the second-straight tournament, finishing in a three-way tie for second, just one shot off of tournament medalist Noah Goldman of Mississippi State. Merrell carded rounds of 70-69-74 for a 213. His 74 marked the fifth-consecutive round he has led the Red Raiders in two tournaments this spring.

Junior Santiago Rivas and freshman Sergio Franky tied in 12th place as both finished with a pair of 219s. Franky tied the final round low for Tech with a 74. Sophomore Will Griffin had the high round of the day with a 78 and finished tied 39th with a 225. Newcomer Chris Ward carded a 226 for the event.

Sophomore Matt Smith, playing as an individual, tied in ninth place with solid rounds of 69-75-73 for a 217. He led a group of five playing as individuals.

Wichita State and Louisiana-Monroe finished fourth and fifth, respectively, as WSU was a stroke back of Oklahoma with an 875 and ULM shot 881. Sam Houston State (887), Air Force (888), DePaul (890) and host Texas-San Antonio (890) were sixth through ninth and Central Arkansas (896) and Stephen F. Austin (896) tied for 10th place.

Illinois State (904), Texas State (908), Marshall (908), Rhode Island (920), Texas-San Antonio "B" (921) and McNeese State (931) round out the field.

Texas Tech will be out of competition for nearly a month as it awaits the next event at the Linger Longer Invitational in Greensboro, Ga., March 14-16.