RUSTON – Louisiana Tech junior Victor Lange remains Conference USA’s highest-ranked individual and the unofficial pairings have been set for the C-USA Championship as GolfStat.com released its updated team and individual rankings Wednesday.
Lange will enter the 2015 Conference USA Championship Sunday ranked 76th in the nation, the highest of any C-USA golfer. UAB’s Martin Rahwer is the next closest C-USA golfer in the national ranks, slated at No. 93. The league has four golfers ranked in the top 150 and eight golfers ranked in the top 250 in the nation.
For the opening round of play of the Conference USA Championship, the teams will be paired according to their national ranking by GolfStat.com. The tournament will feature a trio of threesomes with the top three teams, teams eight through 10 and 11 through 13 with a pair of twosomes of teams ranked fourth and fifth as well as sixth and seventh in the conference.
Unofficially, the Bulldogs will open the tournament Sunday paired with Southern Miss, a team LA Tech has faced in six of the Bulldogs’ 10 regular season tournaments this season with Tech compiling a 5-1 record against the Golden Eagles. An official announcement of the pairings is expected later this week.
Louisiana Tech is sixth among Conference USA schools in the national rankings at No. 112 with Southern Miss ranked at No. 125. UAB is the league’s top-rated team at No. 30 with Charlotte following at No. 53.
The Conference USA Golf Championship will be held at the par-72, 6,935-yard Texarkana Country Club in Texarkana, Arkansas and will feature three rounds of 18 holes (for a total of 54 holes) in stroke play with the top four teams according to the team leaderboard advancing to a four-team playoff in match play. The No. 1 team will face the No. 4 team while the Nos. 2 and 3 teams will face each other on Wednesday morning followed by the winners of each match play facing off on Wednesday afternoon for the team championship.
The stroke play portion of the tournament will tee off on Sunday, April 26 at 8 a.m. with Monday’s and Tuesday’s action also beginning at 8 a.m. The new match play portion of the championship will start on Wednesday, April 29 at 7:30 p.m.
Conference USA announced last summer that it was the first Division I conference to institute a match play portion to its championship format, mimicking the format used for the NCAA Championship.
Last year Lange became the first Bulldog golfer to receive an NCAA Regionals bid as he was ranked No. 171. At almost 100 spots higher, he is expected to make a return trip to NCAA postseason play but first he will have to get through the Conference USA Championship in Texarkana, Arkansas beginning April 26.
Lange has recorded a 71.27 average this season a year after setting a new Louisiana Tech school record with a 72.8 average last season. The Louisiana collegiate record for a low season average was 71.27 set by David Toms at LSU in 1989.
Earlier this season Lange tied a Louisiana Tech and Louisiana collegiate record for a low 18-hole round by firing a 62 in the third round of the Jim Rivers Intercollegiate at Squire Creek Country Club in Choudrant. That matched the 62 carded by Louisiana Tech’s Roy Pace in 1962 at the Louisiana Tech Invitational in Ruston.
C-USA Individuals in the National Rankings (as of April 22, 2015)
76. Victor Lange [Jr.], Louisiana Tech
93. Martin Rohwer [Jr.], UAB
131. Paul Dunne [Sr.], UAB
141. Martin Simonsen [Sr.], UTEP
166. Lee Hodges [Fr.], UAB
182. Victor Wiggins [So.], Western Kentucky
218. Will Cannon [Jr.], UAB
241. Roberto Ruiz [Sr.], UTEP
C-USA Teams in the National Rankings (as of April 22, 2015)
30. UAB
53. Charlotte
74. North Texas
88. UTSA
92. UTEP
112. Louisiana Tech
125. Southern Miss
147. Rice
163. Old Dominion
165. Middle Tennessee
179. Marshall
191. Florida Atlantic
198. Western Kentucky
Lange will enter the 2015 Conference USA Championship Sunday ranked 76th in the nation, the highest of any C-USA golfer. UAB’s Martin Rahwer is the next closest C-USA golfer in the national ranks, slated at No. 93. The league has four golfers ranked in the top 150 and eight golfers ranked in the top 250 in the nation.
For the opening round of play of the Conference USA Championship, the teams will be paired according to their national ranking by GolfStat.com. The tournament will feature a trio of threesomes with the top three teams, teams eight through 10 and 11 through 13 with a pair of twosomes of teams ranked fourth and fifth as well as sixth and seventh in the conference.
Unofficially, the Bulldogs will open the tournament Sunday paired with Southern Miss, a team LA Tech has faced in six of the Bulldogs’ 10 regular season tournaments this season with Tech compiling a 5-1 record against the Golden Eagles. An official announcement of the pairings is expected later this week.
Louisiana Tech is sixth among Conference USA schools in the national rankings at No. 112 with Southern Miss ranked at No. 125. UAB is the league’s top-rated team at No. 30 with Charlotte following at No. 53.
The Conference USA Golf Championship will be held at the par-72, 6,935-yard Texarkana Country Club in Texarkana, Arkansas and will feature three rounds of 18 holes (for a total of 54 holes) in stroke play with the top four teams according to the team leaderboard advancing to a four-team playoff in match play. The No. 1 team will face the No. 4 team while the Nos. 2 and 3 teams will face each other on Wednesday morning followed by the winners of each match play facing off on Wednesday afternoon for the team championship.
The stroke play portion of the tournament will tee off on Sunday, April 26 at 8 a.m. with Monday’s and Tuesday’s action also beginning at 8 a.m. The new match play portion of the championship will start on Wednesday, April 29 at 7:30 p.m.
Conference USA announced last summer that it was the first Division I conference to institute a match play portion to its championship format, mimicking the format used for the NCAA Championship.
Last year Lange became the first Bulldog golfer to receive an NCAA Regionals bid as he was ranked No. 171. At almost 100 spots higher, he is expected to make a return trip to NCAA postseason play but first he will have to get through the Conference USA Championship in Texarkana, Arkansas beginning April 26.
Lange has recorded a 71.27 average this season a year after setting a new Louisiana Tech school record with a 72.8 average last season. The Louisiana collegiate record for a low season average was 71.27 set by David Toms at LSU in 1989.
Earlier this season Lange tied a Louisiana Tech and Louisiana collegiate record for a low 18-hole round by firing a 62 in the third round of the Jim Rivers Intercollegiate at Squire Creek Country Club in Choudrant. That matched the 62 carded by Louisiana Tech’s Roy Pace in 1962 at the Louisiana Tech Invitational in Ruston.
C-USA Individuals in the National Rankings (as of April 22, 2015)
76. Victor Lange [Jr.], Louisiana Tech
93. Martin Rohwer [Jr.], UAB
131. Paul Dunne [Sr.], UAB
141. Martin Simonsen [Sr.], UTEP
166. Lee Hodges [Fr.], UAB
182. Victor Wiggins [So.], Western Kentucky
218. Will Cannon [Jr.], UAB
241. Roberto Ruiz [Sr.], UTEP
C-USA Teams in the National Rankings (as of April 22, 2015)
30. UAB
53. Charlotte
74. North Texas
88. UTSA
92. UTEP
112. Louisiana Tech
125. Southern Miss
147. Rice
163. Old Dominion
165. Middle Tennessee
179. Marshall
191. Florida Atlantic
198. Western Kentucky
