Cowboys prevail at Southern Hills, Stout repeats as medalist
By Ken MacLeod
Winning both the team and individual Big 12 Championship titles at a difficult major championship venue such as Southern Hills Country Club left Oklahoma State golf coach Alan Bratton beaming.
“This is what we want to be about, playing well at the most challenging courses and this is certainly one of them,” he said after OSU shot a final-round of 3-under 277 to finish at 2-under-par as a team and 11 shots ahead of second-place Arizona State. “This was just a really good showing for us.”
Sophomore Preston Stout, despite begin ill overnight with what he said was possibly food poisoning, birdied the first three holes, four of the first five and shot a final-round 67 to finish at 3-under, two shots clear of ASU’s Connor Williams for his second consecutive Big 12 title. Williams finished at 1-under and they were the only two players in the 80-man field to finish under par although ASU’s Michael Mjasseth and Houston’s Wolfgang Glawe tied for third at even-par 280.
Preston Stout repeats as Big 12 Championship medalist. Photo courtesy Southern Hills.The victory was the third consecutive and fifth of the season for this young OSU team that features four sophomores and a freshman in its starting five, but now has developed into a legitimate contender for the school’s 12th national championship and first since the 2018 super team featuring Viktor Hovland, Matthew Wolff, Austin Eckroat and five other golfers who have gone on to win professional events at some level.
Extra satisfying to Bratton was this was OSU’s first victory in the five times the event has been held at Southern Hills, including in 2018 when it was won by the University of Oklahoma. OU and Texas each have two victories in the previous four and both are missing this year and playing this week in the SEC Championship. It was the 12thBig 12 title for OSU and 57th conference crown overall including Big Eight and Big Six titles.
“This one was good,” Bratton said. “We’re a young team but all of our guys are good players and really starting to peak at the right time. I’m very happy to win here and see us continuing to move in the right direction for the post-season.”
Oklahoma State golf coach Alan Bratton confers with Gaven Lane.The Cowboys will learn their regional assignment next Wednesday.
After making the turn at 4-under, Stout, a sophomore from Dallas, made a bogey on the 10th hole, got that back with a tap-in birdie on the par-5 13th, then played smart, conservative golf on the way in, leaving himself 15 to 20 feet for birdie and tap-in pars. He pulled his tee shot left on the par-4 18th hole, hit a tree and was forced to layup, leading to a closing bogey.
“I was just going for the fat part of the greens and trying to leave myself decent birdie looks,” said Stout, who said he slept for an hour in the locker room before his tee time and got bye on a banana, two bites of a bagel and a lot of Pepto Bismol. “It’s great to win at a major championship venue like this. This course demands that you control your ball, play the angles and be smart.”
“He certainly wasn’t feeling well but he’s a tough kid and there was no doubt he was going to play,” Bratton said, pointing out that sick and injured athletes often play better, with the most famous example being Michael Jordan’s “Flu Game” where he scored 38 points in game five of the 1997 NBA finals against the Utah Jazz.
Stout fired three consecutive rounds of even-par 70 before his closing 67. Teammate Ethan Fang tied for fifth at 1-over after a closing 69. He was 7-over in the first round and played brilliantly in the final 54. Eric Lee finished ninth at 3-over after a 73. Filip Fahlberg-Johnsson tied for 14th at 7-over after a closing 68. Gaven Lane shot 74 and tied for 17th.
Notes: Despite playing some 400 shorter than it did for the 2022 PGA Championship and in mostly benign weather, Southern Hills was unyielding, with the average score 73.66. The most difficult hole as usual was the closing 18th, playing to an average of 4.53 with 13 birdies against 123 bogeys and 27 double bogeys or worse. The easiest hole and the only one to play under par for the week was the par-5 13th at an average of 4.82.
