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Aberg named finalist for college golf's top honor

staff reports
·5 min read

Texas Tech standout Ludvig Aberg remains in contention to be a repeat winner of the Ben Hogan Award, the equivalent of the Heisman Trophy for college golf.

Aberg won the Hogan Award last year and is one of three finalists announced Thursday for this year's honor. The other finalists are Vanderbilt sophomore Gordon Sargent and Stanford junior Michael Thorbjornsen. The winner will be announced and the award presented at a May 22 ceremony in Fort Worth.

Jon Rahm, champion of the 2021 U.S. Open and 2023 Masters, is the only two-time Ben Hogan Award winner, doing so in 2015 and 2016 when he played for Arizona State. Aberg is the eighth player to be a finalist more than once.

The senior from Eslov, Sweden, has finished in the top eight in all eight tournaments he's played this school year, winning three: The Prestige, the Valspar Collegiate and the Big 12 tournament. He won The Prestige for the third year in a row, and he broke the Big 12 tournament records for lowest total score (265 on the par-70 Prairie Dunes) and strokes in relation to par (15 under).

Aberg, in 25 rounds this year, has 16 rounds in the 60s, only one score higher than 71 and a strokes-per-round average of 68.6.

In the latest World Amateur Golf Ranking, Aberg is No. 1, Sargent No. 2 and Thorbjornsen No. 3.

Texas Tech senior Ludvig Aberg, pictured after his Big 12 tournament victory in Hutchinson, Kansas, is one of three finalists for the Ben Hogan Award, which goes to the top player in college golf. Aberg won the award last year.
Texas Tech senior Ludvig Aberg, pictured after his Big 12 tournament victory in Hutchinson, Kansas, is one of three finalists for the Ben Hogan Award, which goes to the top player in college golf. Aberg won the award last year.

Men's basketball

Former Texas Tech forward Elijah Fisher, who played in 28 games this past season as a true freshman, told On3sports he has committed as a transfer to DePaul.

Fisher, 6-foot-6 and 190 pounds, averaged 3.3 points and 2.0 rebounds per game. He came off the bench except for one game as a starter.

Women's tennis

DURHAM, N.C. — No. 20 UCLA beat Texas Tech 4-1 in Friday's first round of the NCAA tournament, spotting the Red Raiders the best-of-three doubles point and then winning four consecutive singles matches.

Sasha Vagramov clinched it for the Bruins, beating Metka Komac 6-4, 6-3 at No. 5 singles.

UCLA (14-7) will play a round-of-32 match at 4 p.m. CDT Saturday against the winner of Friday's late match between sixth-ranked Duke (22-4) and William & Mary (15-5). Duke is the top seed and UCLA the second seed in the four-team regional bracket.

Tech (14-11) won the doubles point with victories by the teams of Olivia Peet-Cristina Tiglea at No. 2 and Komac-Avelina Sayfetdinova at No. 1.

Then UCLA won Nos. 1, 2, 4 and 5 singles. Tian Fangran beat Peet 6-1, 6-3; Kimmi Hance downed Sayfetdinova 7-5, 6-0; and Elise Wagle defeated Tiglea 6-1, 6-4 before Vagramov closed it out.

Men's tennis

Texas Tech will play Louisville in the first round of the NCAA tournament at 9 a.m. CDT Saturday in Columbus, Ohio.

The match is part of a four-team regional hosted by No. 3 national seed Ohio State (29-2), which takes on East Tennessee State (12-13) in another first-round match at noon CDT Saturday. The two winners meet at 11 a.m. CDT Sunday.

Ohio State is hosting first-round matches for the 16th time in 17 years. The winner coming out of Columbus advances to the round of 16 against the winner of a regional hosted by No. 14 Arizona.

Texas Tech (14-10) is the No. 2 seed in Columbus, Louisville (16-11) the No. 3 seed and East Tennessee State the No. 4 seed.

Earlier this week, Tech No. 1 singles player Olle Wallin was one of six players honored as first-team all-Big 12. The junior from Sweden is 15-5 in singles matches this year, including 13-5 when playing the No. 1 position.

Tech freshman Lorenzo Esquici was one of two players honored as Big 12 position champions at No. 5 singles. Texas' Nevin Arimilli was 2-1 in conference matches at that position, and Esquici was 2-2.

Tech's Piotr Pawlak and Franco Ribero were named Big 12 champions at No. 2 doubles with a 3-1 record in conference matches.

Football

Former Texas Tech defensive tackle Gabriel Oladipo received an invitation to the Pittsburgh Steelers' rookie minicamp, the Tech football program announced Friday.

Oladipo spent the 2023 season on the scout team, not playing in any games. He joined the football program after winning three Big 12 titles and achieved first-team all-America status as a thrower in track and field. He won Big 12 titles in the weight throw in 2021 and 2022 and in the discus in 2021.

He finished third in the weight throw at the 2022 NCAA indoor championships for first-team all-America recognition and 12th in the weight throw at the 2021 NCAA indoor for second-team all-America honors.

Oladipo, 6-foot-2 and 295 pounds, last played football in high school at Fort Bend Hightower.

Football

Texas Tech safety Dadrion Taylor-Demerson will host a youth football camp from noon to 3 p.m. May 13 at Lubbock High's Chapman Field, located at 2302 Ave. W.

Taylor-Demerson said there is no charge. The session is for youngsters age third through 12th grades, though Taylor-Demerson said any age is welcome. He said he plans to have a few other Tech football players help him with the camp.

"I'm basically treating this like recess outside," Taylor-Demerson said. "We're going to go out there and have a good time, learn stuff about football, teach you a little something about life. So it'll be a great Saturday to come out and have fun."

Registration information can be found at www.bamfam.org or www.tinyurl.com/rabbitcamp.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech roundup: Ludvig Aberg named finalist for college golf's top award