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May 14, 2009

TEXAS TECH HEAD COACH GREG SANDS (first-round team leader at 2-under-par 282)
On Texas Tech’s first-round performance: We’ve been working hard on our lag putting because there are a lot of big, tough greens here.  They’re firm and fast. I think our practicing really helped us score well today. We’ve seen this course quite a bit and were hoping that would give us an advantage. It certainly did today.

On preparing for the second round:  We know there are 36 holes left in this tournament, and although you obviously want to start well, it doesn’t do you any good unless you continue to perform at that level. 

On Tech’s first-round pairings with Florida and Stanford:  We played a really hard schedule this year, so we’ve seen them before and I think that helps. We’re comfortable being paired with Florida and Stanford, and we beat them both in previous tournaments. We feel like we have the confidence to play with these caliber of teams.

TEXAS JUNIOR Lance Lopez (tied for individual lead after a 3-under-par 68)
On his first-round effort: I had a good round. The course played tough, as the wind was really blowing today. I hung in there and played my best. I fell off a little on seven and eight (his 16th and 17th holes), but I came back strong with a birdie to finish at nine. I felt pretty good about my round other than those two holes.

On if he thought he had a 68 in him this morning when he teed off: Birdie on 10 (his first hole) was a good start, but I wasn’t really thinking about 68 in the back of my mind. Playing shot-by-shot made everything basically fall into place. Low-ball flight for me is the key out here (in the wind).

LAMAR JUNIOR HUGUES JOANNES (tied for individual lead after a 3-under-par 68)
On his opening round: I started off playing great with three birdies. I hung in there after bogeys on seven and eight, and I just kept grinding. I putted unreal today, and I’m very happy with my ball striking, too.

On the challenges of the course: There are a few holes that get really tight because of the wind. The wind is the toughest challenge, maybe about 20 miles per hour today. It’s tough to stay on some of these fairways, especially holes like six, seven and eight. It’s long, too, but it’s pretty dry and that is helping the ball bounce.

TEXAS TECH SOPHOMORE NILS FLOREN (tied for third in individual standings after a 1-under-par 70)
On his four-birdie stretch (holes nine-12): I had an easy up-and-down on nine, and on 10, I made a 25-30 footer. On the 11th, I hit a really good 3-wood that was only about 55 yards from the pin, and on 12, I hit it 15 feet left of the hole. It was not really just one thing that was working for me on those holes, it was a little bit of everything.

On the team mentality: Coach Sands emphasized for us to be patient and 100-percent committed to every shot. He said if we did that, everything would solve itself. It really worked today, and I think it will work the rest of the tournament, too. 

TEXAS HEAD COACH John Fields (team in second place at 7-over-par 291)
On Texas’ first-round performance: I feel real good about what our guys did today. We got off to a really good start (up to 6-under-par at one point), and then 15 and 16 seemed to turn our momentum in the wrong direction. But they hung in there, Lance Lopez gave us a great round today and the other guys played solid. It is a good start, and I feel confident we can have a better round tomorrow.

On the windy conditions today: I thought it was extremely difficult today, partially because there was a lot of swirling winds. It has a tendency to kind of shake you up a little. I think Texas Tech had a fantastic round today. Anything under-par on this golf course was really good golf today.