After struggling with his game through the past few months, Texas Tech’s Kyle Hogan finally had a breakthrough in last week’s Maridoe Collegiate Invitational. The 2019-20 Golfweek Honorable Mention All-American had been relegated to the sideline through the early portion of the fall, missing a trip to the Colonial Collegiate Invite after leaving a team qualifying event at the turn due to frustration with his game.
At the Maridoe, Hogan still wasn’t listed among Tech’s five team members, but was brought along to participate as an individual.
He carded rounds of 74-68-73 to edge Oklahoma State’s Austin Eckroat and Pepperdine’s Dylan Menante and take home the individual title and, more importantly, he earned a coveted exemption into the PGA Tour’s Houston Open.
But with a major television appearance just a few days away, the Texas Tech men’s golf team has seen its lineup juggled due to coronavirus contact tracing, and Hogan is among those not making the trip.
The Red Raiders are scheduled to play in the East Lake Cup in Atlanta from Monday through Wednesday with live coverage on Golf Channel from 3 to 6 p.m. ET each afternoon. The other men’s teams taking part in the made-for-TV event are Oklahoma, Pepperdine and Texas.
According to a spokesperson for the athletics program, coach Greg Sands’ lineup will need to be swapped from the one that has competed in the previous three events this fall due to the tracing.
Although university policies do not allow the department to name players who might be affected, Hogan is one of four who have competed in previous events that aren’t listed for East Lake.
Ludvig Aberg, Sandy Scott and Carl Didrik Meen Fosaas also took part in the Maridoe Collegiate Invitational last week in Dallas, but are not listed on the lineup sheet for this week’s East Lake Cup. Scott, however, had been suffering from a wrist injury, which could explain the 2019-20 Golfweek second-team All-American’s omission.
The three-day event at East Lake Golf Club (site of the Tour Championship) is played in a similar fashion to the NCAA Championships, meaning Monday’s opening round is stroke play and determines an individual male and female champion. Seeding for the following two days of match play is also decided from the opening round.
On the women’s side, the field consists of Florida, Ole Miss, South Carolina and Texas.
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