Hannes Ronneblad captured the second individual title of his Red Raider career on Tuesday, winning the Bandon Dunes Championship.
After shooting an opening-round 65, Ronneblad (-10) pretty much led wire-to-wire, other than being tied atop the leaderboard a couple times throughout the weekend. He birdied Nos. 16 and 18 to hold off Oregon’s Wyndham Clark (-8), who entered the week as the nation’s No. 2 player, according to Golfweek.
Ronneblad’s birdie on No. 18 also vaulted the No. 9 Red Raiders into sole possession of second place as a team, finishing the week at -7.
Ronneblad joins teammate Fredrik Nilehn as one of six players under head coach Greg Sands with multiple individual tournament wins, as he also won the Lone Star Invitational in 2015. Ronneblad nearly had a third at the 2015 Carmel Cup, where he tied for first place, but ultimately fell in a playoff.
“I’m really proud of Hannes,” Sands said. “He really stayed patient and positive all day even though he started slow, and it really paid off. He stayed the course and remained so calm and steady. It was a very impressive tournament for him, and I’m so happy for him. He works so hard every day and he deserves it.”
Coupled with Nilehn’s wins at this season’s Carmel Cup and Amer Ari Invitational, the Red Raiders have claimed the individual crown at three of the eight tournaments in which they have played this season.
Joining Ronneblad in the individual top 10 was Nilehn, who shot a 1-under 71, moving to -4 for the championship. Ivan Ramirez (+2) carded an even-par 72 to tie for 20th, giving the Red Raiders three top-20 finishes.
Federico Zucchetti (+5) broke a string of three consecutive top-15 finishes by tying for 36th, and Sandy Scott (+9) tied for 51st.
“I was pretty pleased overall with some of the progress we made this week, but not too happy we didn’t challenge Oregon today,” Sands said. “It’s their home turf, and I know that played to their advantage a bit, but we simply didn’t play well enough as a team to have a chance to win. Now, we have some time to prepare for our last couple tournaments before the postseason, and there is still plenty of room for improvement.”
The Red Raiders will return to action April 1, at the Aggie Invitational, in College Station, Texas. Follow @TTUMensGolf on Twitter and like Texas Tech Men’s Golf on Facebook for more updates.
No. 9 Texas Tech Men’s Golf Finishes Second at Bandon Dunes, Ronneblad Wins Individual Title
