No. 5 Texas Tech heads to Colonial Country Club for the Ben Hogan Collegiate with Ben Gregg surging and one of college golf’s strongest fields waiting.
No. 5 Texas Tech men's golf is about to find out exactly where it stands.
The Red Raiders head to Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth for the Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational on Monday and Tuesday, taking on a field that looks more like an NCAA Championship leaderboard than a September tournament.
Fourteen of the 16 teams are ranked in the Bushnell/Golfweek top 25, including No. 1 Auburn, No. 2 Oklahoma State, No. 3 Arizona State, No. 8 Texas and No. 9 Georgia Tech.
Texas Tech won't exactly arrive quietly.
Senior Ben Gregg has been one of the hottest players in college golf over the past two weeks. Gregg tied for second at the Inverness Intercollegiate with a 2-under 211, then followed that by earning his first collegiate victory at the OFCC/Fighting Illini Invitational.
Gregg shot rounds of 65, 64 and 68 at Olympia Fields to finish 13-under 197 and share medalist honors.
That's the kind of form Texas Tech will need at Colonial.
Gregg will lead a Red Raiders lineup that also includes Adam Bresnu, Tim Wiedemeyer, Connor Graham and Simon Hovdal. Bresnu and Wiedemeyer were both named to the preseason Haskins Award watch list, while Bresnu, Wiedemeyer and Graham entered the season ranked inside the top 30 of the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
In other words, there aren't many weak spots.
Texas Tech finished third at Olympia Fields at 37-under 803, just three strokes behind champion Arizona State, showing it can already trade punches with some of the nation's best.
Now comes another heavyweight test.
Colonial will play as a par 70 at 7,289 yards, with 36 holes scheduled Monday beginning with an 8:15 a.m. CT shotgun start. The final 18 holes will be played Tuesday.
There's also considerably more than a trophy on the line.
The individual champion will receive an exemption into the 2027 PGA TOUR Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial, adding another layer of pressure to an already stacked event.
For Texas Tech, this is exactly the kind of stage Greg Sands' program wants.
The Red Raiders have championship expectations again, and Colonial offers an early opportunity to prove those expectations are justified.
