NCAA Women's Regional at The Rawls Course

[Tom_Doak]

They started playing one of the three NCAA women's regional qualifying tournaments today on The Rawls Course at Texas Tech.  [Hey, I know it's not that big a deal, but I'm curious to see how they score there.]

The women are playing the course at a bit over 6300 yards par 72.

The first-round leader shot 4-under 68.  There was a fog delay in the morning, so I suspect it wasn't too windy today.  Will be curious to see how the scoring winds up, and whether the Texas Tech women's team benefits from their local knowledge.

[Jeff_Mingay]

I ran into this news on the internet this morning, Tom.

First round leader shot 68?! Sounds like you need to "pinch" the fairways  

[peter_p]

Here is the link to the tournament at Golfstat.  http://www.golfstatresults.com/public/index.cfm?tournament_id=559
Seven players under par, none of them from Texas Tech.

[Tom_Doak]

The weather in Lubbock is back to normal today ... a 20 MPH wind out of the south.  Only one score at even par from the first half of the field ... they are just trying to survive the day.

[Buck Wolter]

You'd think those Long Island Girls would be used to the wind.

[Tom_Doak]

Actually, Buck, that's LIU - Brooklyn.  Looks like they haven't got away from the shelter of the buildings much this spring.

Scoring in the second round was very tough ... only one round of even par, three 73's, three 74's, and half a dozen 75's ... the field averaged almost 80.  [I shudder to think how many times I was cussed out today.]  But there are about nine teams within five shots of the lead for the final round tomorrow.  Wish I was there to watch!

[Andy Doyle]

Two summers after buying our house, I had the backyard cleared of weeds and stumps and graded.  I raked it, rolled it and seeded it with centipede.  Since then I have mowed, fertilized, weeded, and raked it.

This evening I sat in my lawn chair, drank a beer (or two), and watched with great contentment as my kids and the neighborhood kids had a ball playing baseball.  So much pride in seeing people enjoy my .63 acres.

I can only imagine how cool it must feel to see people be challenged by and enjoy 200 acres of my efforts.

Andy

[ed_getka]

Tom,
  How much wind did you design for in your layout there? How do the holes breakdown in terms of into, with, and cross-winds?
   I think it is cool to hear about the girls playing on your course. I would be interested to hear after the tournament if the scoring on any of the holes suprised you.

[peter_p]

Tom,
Here is a link to the hole by hole scores. The longest 4 is 408 and the longest 5 is 517. The list is hole, par, yardage, 1st round over par, 2nd rd over par, 3rd rd over par, average over par. The relative difficulty may be wind, hole location or both.
http://www.golfstatresults.com/public/stats/static/index_559.html
01 4 340 .21 .22 .16  .1967
02 5 516 .10 .01 .17*.020*   *under par
03 3 131 .25 .68 .36  .430
04 4 328 .07 .33 .34  .3467
05 4 408 .26 .44 .21  .3033
06 3 171 .38 .33 .50  .4033
07 4 338 .01 .58 .59  .3933
08 4 374 .35 .68 .70  .5767
09 5 498 .08 .26 .06  .1333
10 3 163 .46 .86 .60  .6400
11 4 366 .21 .33 .26  .2667
12 4 329 .29 .20 .09  .1933
13 4 373 .13 .47 .07  .2233
14 4 390 .59 .73 .60  .6400
15 4 405 .55 .76 .60  .6367
16 3 175 .26 .51 .44  .4033
17 5 517 .00 .07 .04  .0367
18 5 506 .33 .46 .19  .3267

[Don_Mahaffey]

I sure understand the stretch of 13-16 playing tough, but what about 10? Gotta believe they had a super tough hole location.

[peter_p]

10 had 23 doubles and 7 others over two days.
http://www.golfstatresults.com/public/stats/static/course_559.html

[Tom_Doak]

Don:

I'm not at all surprised that #10 is one of the hardest holes in a south wind.  For those who don't know, it's an Eden hole, with nasty bunkers to the left and right-center, and the irrigation lake is just off to the right of the green (I'm sure that's where some of the "others" came from).

The hole is playing straight downwind, which makes it almost impossible to hold the green with a normal shot ... it's one of the few holes on the course where they almost have to try to bounce it into the entrance.  If they get into one of the front bunkers, the recovery shot is also downwind, so there won't be many up-and-downs.

And how would you like to hit that as your first shot of the day?  I didn't think about that too much when we were designing the course, because except for a big event like this, they never start on #10.

It is interesting to look at the scores, even though when I see them I make a bunch of assumptions about where the holes might have been cut ... #7 was easy the first day (probably because the hole was in the middle of the green), but very hard the second day (with the pin on one of the wings).  It's a full half shot harder with the pin on one of the wings.

[Tom_Doak]

Just checked the morning results, and I must say congratulations and thank you to Diana Ramage of Auburn, who shot 67 today [after opening rounds of 68 and 77] to win the individual title going away, and help her team to the regional title as well.

There's nothing an architect loves more than seeing one player at the top of their game show everyone else how playable the course is.

Now I'll sit back and hope that the Texas Tech women can come from behind to make the top eight and get to the national finals.  Looks like they would have to shoot +3 as a team (four best scores out of five) to make it ... difficult, but not impossible.

[MarkT]

Saturday article from Friday's play:
http://www.redraiders.com/stories/050705/gol_0507050010.shtml

Notes: The Rawls Course has gotten positive reviews from players and coaches at the NCAA Central Regional. Texas senior Perry Swenson called the course "awesome'' after a first-round 72 Thursday.

"I love the course setup,'' said Sutherland, the A&M coach. "You really have to think to not make big mistakes, and I love that. I love a thinking person's golf course. It's a fun course to play and it's a great test, not just of your ball striking, but of your thinking.''

[Tom_Doak]

Sad to report that Ms. Swenson finished the round with an 11 on the final hole this morning (after playing the first 17 holes in +1) and looks like it cost her team from advancing to the championship round.  

I guess competitive players just should never think about the architecture.  She was probably wondering why in the hell I would build a water hole at the end.

However, the A & M team played great today and finished second overall.  They're the other arch rival of Tech so I'm not supposed to be happy about that, but it was a nice quote!

[peter_p]

Reply #8 has been updated to include all three rounds. Two eagles on #1, 5 on #2, 1 on #17.