Cowboys are co-champs at Big 12 Match Play Championship
By OSU Athletics
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Oklahoma State men’s golf claimed co-champion honors at the Big 12 Match Play Tournament for the first time, alongside Arizona State.
OSU played West Viriginia in one of the two championship matches after it was deemed that there would be co-champions due to rain.
The Cowboys were the only team to go 4-0-0 on the tournament and finished pool play with 71 birdies, the most of any team. OSU also led the pack with a +30 hole differential through pool play, 10 more than the next closest. Senior Preston Stout led the field with 20 birdies across pool play.
Stout bested Aidan Dortch 3-and-2, and fellow senior Gaven Lane also won his match 3-up on Ryan Leach. Stout and Lane combined to become the first Cowboy duo to go undefeated during the Big 12 Match Play tournament.
Junior Filip Fahlberg-Johnsson lost his match 4-down to Jack Michael, and senior Eric Lee 5-down to Nichloas Turowski.
The final match between senior Ethan Fang and Gabe Schmitz finished tied, leaving both teams with two and a half points and forcing all ten players to play an additional hole to decide the winner.
Both teams played the par-5 18th hole again. Stout and Fahlberg-Johnsson made eagles, Fang and Lane made birdies and Lee made a par, leading the Cowboys to a 7-under, two-stroke victory.
The Cowboys share the champion honors with Arizona State, who defeated Texas Tech 3-2 in the other championship match, finishing at 3-0-1.
This is the second team title of the season for OSU, following a 28-stroke victory over Florida at the Sahalee Players Championship to start the season. The last time the Cowboys secured two wins in their first four tournaments was 2018, when they won the Fighting Illini Invitational and the Royal Oaks Intercollegiate as their second and fourth tournaments, respectively.
The Cowboys close out their fall season with the East Lake Cup from Oct. 26-28, where they’ll face Arizona, Auburn, and UCLA. The event will feature both stroke play and match play, and all three days will be live on Golf Channel.
