May 5, 2009

by Taylor Wilson, Texas Tech Athletics Media Relations student assistant

LUBBOCK, Texas - For the sixth year in a row, the Texas Tech men's golf program placed a Red Raider on the All-Big 12 Team. Sophomore Nils Floren earns his first Big 12 Conference honor with the selection.

Floren led the Red Raiders to a sixth-place finish at the Big 12 Championships last week, after carding rounds of 71, 79, 75 and 71 for a total of 296, which landed him in a tie for 12th.

The 2009 All-Big 12 team was identified by using the top 10 highest-ranked student-athletes according to the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings following the Big 12 Championship. Oklahoma State led with five golfers, while Colorado and Texas A&M both had two honorees apiece with Tech's Floren rounding out the list.

Floren went into the Big 12 Championships ranked 11th among all Big 12 players after rattling off three-straight top 10 finishes, including two top-five showings. He led the Red Raiders on the season with a scoring average of 73.3, and notched his best finish of the season at the UTSA Intercollegiate, placing second. Seven of his 20 total rounds this season have been under par. Floren, who was ranked as high as No. 17 at one point in the season, is currently ranked No. 63, according to Golfweek/Sagarin rankings.

Floren will lead the No. 19 Red Raiders into the NCAA Southwest Regional Tournament May 14-16, at the University of Texas Golf Club in Austin. Tech enters the tournament as the No. 3 seed behind Stanford and Florida, ranked fifth and eighth in the nation, respectively. Other teams in the field include (21) UNLV, (25) Texas, (32) California, (34) Lamar, (48) Michigan, (53) Texas-Arlington, (58) Mississippi State, (61) Virginia Tech, (82) New Mexico State, and (252) Jackson State.