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Don’t let basketball season cloud your judgement, Texas Tech is currently a golf school.
Following a stellar fall performance highlighted by a win at the Big 12 Match Play event, the Red Raiders are currently ranked No. 2 in the country on Golfstat Rankings, ahead of conference rivals Baylor (No. 12) and Texas (No. 25).
If you aren’t familiar with the collegiate golf world, that win was a big deal. Oklahoma is currently ranked No. 1 in the nation, Texas was last year’s NCAA runner up starting the season as the top-ranked team and Oklahoma State won the NCAA Championship two seasons ago.
Tech has been led by senior Sandy Scott and redshirt junior Kyle Hogan. Both took the individual champion title at the Caramel Cup and the Inverness Intercollegiate, respectively, with the Red Raiders winning each tournament as a team.
Under the bright lights of those two players in an emerging star in the Eslov, Sweden native, Ludvig Aberg. Aberg was the lone Red Raider invited to play in the Sun Bowl All-America Classic, a prestigious tournament where top golfers around the nation are invited to participate. The tournament has an impressive roster of players including Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau to name a few that have participated and gone on to be successful in the PGA Tour.
The freshman took the lead in the first round and went on to win the tournament, shooting 13-under par and four strokes ahead of second-place Matthias Schmid. Even more impressive, he beat last year’s champion, Oklahoma’s No. 10-ranked Quade Cummins by 13 strokes.
The win propelled the Swede in the Amateur World Golf Rankings up to No. 41. It also earned him a nod by the prestigious Ben Hogan Award as a finalist for the November golfer of the month.
While Texas Tech may be on break from team competition, Aberg has been hard at work. Last year’s team fell short of the NCAA Championship missing the cut at the Myrtle Beach Regional, but with the Swede on the rise, he could be a tool to give the Red Raiders an NCAA Championship berth once again.