BY DON WILLIAMS l AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

The Texas Tech women’s golf team hasn’t played poorly of late, just not as well as they would have liked. The Lady Raiders hope being back on the Rawls Course for an important tournament will make everything right.

It had better. Otherwise, their season will be over after this weekend.

Tech goes into the Big 12 Conference Championships ranked No. 65 in the nation. A total of 63 teams — 21 in three locations — will play in NCAA regionals May 8-10.

“Right now, we’re borderline,’’ Tech coach Stacey Totman said. “We had a really, really good fall and played really good golf in bits and pieces in the spring. Our last couple of events kind of hurt us in the rankings, so we’re going to have to play well here if we want to get out and advance into the NCAA (regionals).’’

A "participant" credential adorns the bag of a member of the Texas Tech women's team as the golfers prepare for their practice round on Thursday at The Rawls Course. The course will host the Big 12 Conference Women's Golf Championships starting today.

It’s far from impossible. Oklahoma State is ranked No. 5 in the golfstat.com rankings, but no other Big 12 team is in the top 25. Ten Big 12 teams are bunched between Nos. 39 and 76 in the computerized golfstat.com ratings. That being the case, the Lady Raiders are optimistic about a home-course advantage.

Tech’s Rosalyn Kim, a junior from Belton, called the Rawls Course “the great equalizer.’’
“It’s exciting, because we know how to play this golf course,’’ Kim said. “We play it every single day. We know exactly what to do if the wind’s blowing a certain direction. If it switches up on the last five holes, we know how to (deal with) that, too.’’

Totman said, besides knowing how to make adjustments for the wind, her team can put to use plenty of other course knowledge.

“We have an idea of where we want to hit it and what bounce we’re going to get in a certain spot,’’ the Lady Raiders’ eighth-year head coach said. “I think for us it will be a big advantage. And the greens out here are normally really quick and pretty tough to putt. We’re used the speed and hole locations and everything, so we’re looking forward to having that familiarity.’’

Texas Tech's Alex Gibson laughs before a practice round on Thursday at The Rawls Course.

Tech has fared well lately playing at home, finishing third in the 12-team McHaney/Morehead Invitational in October and winning it the year before. In the more recent of the two, Tech beat four of the other five Big 12 teams in the field.

“It’s really exciting, because we don’t play very many home events,’’ said Tech’s Alex Gibson, a sophomore from Henderson, Nev. “It’s exciting to get people to come out here and watch us and support us. I think it’s to our advantage also, because we’ve been playing here every day, and I don’t think (visiting teams) are very used to the wind like it blows here.’’

Kim posted a career-high fourth-place finish at the Canes & Cardinal Classic on April 6-7 in Miami Lakes, Fla., shooting rounds of 74, 75 and 73. The Lady Raiders, who finished seventh, were coming off a disappointing tie for 14th the last week of March in Tucson, Ariz.

Before then, however, they beat three top-30 teams on the way to a second in Las Vegas in early March and were fifth in San Diego State’s tournament in mid-February.

Totman hopes her players’ experience in the conference tournament will show, too. Megan Dowdy has played in the Big 12 championship three times, and Gloriana Soto and Kim have each been in it twice before.

Gibson doesn’t want to let them down.

“I’m really excited to get a chance to play and prove myself,’’ she said. “Last year, I was like borderline, so I’m just really excited to play with these girls and give the seniors a good run to regionals.’’