LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech women’s golfer Sofia Garcia will represent her home country of Paraguay at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru this weekend.

The 2019 iteration in Lima will hold a golf exhibition for just the second time in the 68-year tenure of the Pan American Games, as golf was just recently introduced four years ago in preparation of its return to the 2016 Olympic Games.

Garcia will be the first Red Raider to participate in the golf competition at the Pan American games when she tees it up on Thursday morning alongside fellow Paraguayan and 2015 Pan American bronze medalist Julieta Granada, who concluded the 2015 games in Toronto at 5-under, just two shots back of a second place finish.

The tournament will consist of both individual and mixed team competitions, as the top-32 amateur competitors from North and South America will battle for gold in the four-round event, beginning Thursday morning.

Garcia is aiming to build off an impressive 2019 campaign where she’s captured three individual titles, including a recent win at the Dutch Junior Open and wins for Tech at the Reynolds Lake Oconee Invite in February and the Valspar Augusta Invitational in March.