LUBBOCK, Texas – The No. 29 Texas Tech women’s golf team moved into fourth place following its best round of the season Monday at the Big 12 Championships hosted at The Club of Carton Woods in the Woodlands, Texas.
Four of five Red Raiders shot under-par as Tech improved its score by 14 strokes compared to its opening round Sunday, finishing with a 12-under-par 276 to quickly sail up the leaderboard. Tech will enter Tuesday’s final round one stroke back of Baylor and Oklahoma in second place and with a three-shot cushion over fifth place Texas.
The Red Raiders, whose previous lowest round this season was a 6-under 282 at the Schooner Fall Classic in September, excelled on the par-3s Monday, combining for eight birdies throughout the lineup with only two bogeys. In fact, all five Red Raiders sank birdies at the 14th, which has ranked as the course’s eighth-hardest hole with only eight other birdies through 36 holes.
Gala Dumez drained a birdie at three of the four par-3s Monday en route to a 6-under 66 round, which matched her career low that was set just a few weeks ago at the Bruzzy Challenge (was also the second round). Dumez started her day with back-to-back birdies and did not look back as she would notch a bogey-free card, pushing her to 9-under for the tournament.
Dumez, who is a combined 10-under with no bogeys over her last 27 holes, will head into the final round with a share of the individual lead alongside Oklahoma State’s Isabella Fierro and Baylor’s Gurleen Kaur. Tech has not previously had a player win the Big 12 individual title in its history.
Amy Taylor added an under-par card of her own at 3-under, which included three birdies on the back nine to move her into a tie for 14th overall. Anna Dong and Cecilie Nielsen provided the two other under-par rounds at 2-under and 1-under, respectively, moving the duo into a tie for 29th and 21st place individually.
Possibly the most impressive part in Tech’s surge Monday was that its normal leader, Sofia Garcia, did not count toward its team score. Garcia, who was even over the first 18 holes Sunday, rebounded from a difficult front nine to finish 3-over on the round, dropping her into a tie for 22nd place overall.
Oklahoma State was the only school with a lower second round than the Red Raiders as the Cowgirls combined to shoot an impressive 18-under Monday to increase their team lead to 16 strokes. Only five schools enter Tuesday under par as Kansas State is in sixth at 7-over followed by TCU at 8-over and both Iowa State an Kansas at 15-over for the tournament.
Tech will be paired with Texas and Kansas State in the 9 a.m. tee group Tuesday morning. Final round coverage of the Big 12 Championship will be available via Golfstat.com.
A career day ??
For those keeping track, Gala is ?? under with no bogeys over her last 2?7? holes?? pic.twitter.com/22SRxnWYvk
— Texas Tech Women’s Golf (@TexasTechWGolf) April 19, 2021
