Sooners begin defense of Big 12 Conference Championship, Cowboys after 55th league title

The Oklahoma men’s golf team looks to defend its conference title this weekend at the 2019 Big 12 Men’s Golf Championship, hosted by West Virginia. The three-day, 72-hole tournament will take place April 26-28 (Friday-Sunday) at the par-70, 7,201-yard Old White Course at The Greenbriar in White Sulphur Springs, W. Va.

Five of the ten teams competing at this week’s Big 12 Championship are ranked inside the top 25 of the latest Golfweek/Sagarin ratings, including No. 1 Oklahoma State, No. 7 Texas, No. 8 Oklahoma, No. 16 Texas Tech and No. 22 Baylor.

The Sooners head into the postseason ranked No. 5 in both the latest Bushnell/Golfweek Coaches Poll and No. 7 in the GolfStat rankings.

OU’s lineup with feature seniors Brad Dalke and Blaine Hale, juniors Quade Cummins and Garett Reband along with freshman Patrick Welch. The Sooners will be paired with Texas Tech in Friday’s first round and will tee off at 7:45 a.m. CT.

The Sooners won last year’s Big 12 Championship by eight strokes at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla. Former Sooner Grant Hirschman shared co-medalist honors with a four-round 283 (+3), while Cummins and Dalke made the all-tournament team by tying for seventh place at 286 (+6).

OU has earned six straight top-three finishes heading into the postseason.

Oklahoma State’s top-ranked men’s golf team will seek its 10th Big 12 title this week. Overall, the Cowboys have won 54 league titles and have produced 48 individual champions since the program’s first season in 1947.

Head coach Alan Bratton‘s squad has finished as the event’s runner-up each of the past three seasons and OSU’s last conference title came in 2011.

The Cowboys will be the tournament’s No. 1 seed and will be grouped with second-seeded Texas. The two teams will get their first round underway at 7 a.m. (CST) on Friday.

The tournament will consist of 72 holes with 36 being played on Friday followed by 18-hole days on Saturday and Sunday. Pairings for the second day of play will be based on the 36-hole totals from Friday’s action. The final day’s pairings will be based on the 54-hole team totals with the leaders teeing off last.

OSU’s lineup will be comprised of seniors Zach Bauchou and Hayden Wood, junior Viktor Hovland as well as sophomores Austin Eckroat and Matthew Wolff.

The Cowboys have won nine Big 12 crowns in the history of the event. OSU won three of the first four tournaments, finishing atop the leaderboard in 1997, 1998 and 2000. The Cowboys’ next league title came in 2005 before reeling off five-straight victories from 2007-2011.

OSU has produced the event’s individual medalist on 10 occasions with Leif Westerberg (1997), Charles Howell (2000), Anders Hultman (2002), Hunter Mahan (2003), Pablo Martin (2007), Rickie Fowler (2008), Morgan Hoffmann (2009, 2011), Stratton Nolen (2016) and Kristoffer Ventura (2018) all taking top honors.

THE FIELD
(GOLFWEEK/SAGARIN RATINGS)
Oklahoma State (1)
Texas (7)
Oklahoma (8)
Texas Tech (16)
Baylor (22)
TCU (30)
Iowa State (37)
Kansas (39)
West Virginia
Kansas State

PAIRINGS
First round pairings (with conference championship seed)

First tee
7 a.m. CT – No. 1 Oklahoma State, No. 2 Texas
7:45 a.m. CT – No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 Texas Tech
8:30 a.m. CT – No. 9 West Virginia, No. 10 Kansas State

10th tee
7:22 a.m. CT – No. 5 Baylor, No. 6 TCU
8:07 a.m. CT – No. 7 Kansas, No. 8 Iowa State

OU LINEUP
1. Quade Cummins, RS-Junior: Leads team with a 70.09 stroke average and has five top-10 finishes this season … Finished tied for ninth at the N.I.T. … Placed seventh at the Southern Highlands Collegiate at 211 (-5) … Tied for seventh place at the Puerto Rico Classic with a 212 (-4) … Won the Marathon Sun Bowl All- American Classic after winning the playoff … Shot the third-lowest three-round score in program history at the Ka’anapali Classic with a 198 (-15) … 2018 Division I PING All-America honorable mention selection … All-Region pick by the GCAA last season … Named to U.S. Palmer Cup Team.

2. Garett Reband, Junior: Five top-20 finishes this season and competed in nine team events … Placed seventh at the N.I.T. to gain three top-10 finishes this season … Shared 24th place at the Southern Highlands Collegiate …Tied for seventh place at the Puerto Rico Classic with a 212 (-4) … Finished second in the Carmel Cup posting a 200 (-16) including two rounds in the 60s … Competed in 10 team events last season.

3. Brad Dalke, Senior: Tied for the ninth place at the Boilermaker Invitational, posting a two-round 140 (-4) … Took third at the Sonoran Showdown individual tournament after shooting a season best 200 (-10) … Competed in seven events this season … Carded a 69 at the Carmel Cup, finishing in 18th at 211 (-5) to open the season … Recorded four top-20 finishes this season … Second-team Division I PING All-American and All-Region selection by the GCAA last season … 2019 Academic All-Big 12 First Team.

4. Patrick Welch, Freshman: Competing in seventh event of his freshman season … Three top-20 finishes this season … Earned second top-20 finish at the Southern Highlands Collegiate, sharing 19th place at 215 (-1) … Tied for sixth in his first individual collegiate appearance at the Ka’anapali Collegiate Classic … Collected a win against Iowa State in the Big 12 Match Play … Plays crossed-handed.

5. Blaine Hale, Senior: Playing in eighth event of the season … 2019 Academic All-Big 12 First Team selection … Won Gopher Invitational in September for first individual win … Shot a 65 in the opening round at the Carmel Cup, tying for 13th at 210 (-6)… Two-time Division I PING All-America honorable mention selection.

THE COURSE
The par-70, 7,201-yard Old White Course at The Greenbriar will serve as the host for the 2019 Big 12 Championship.
THE FORMAT
Seventy-two holes will be played over three days. The first round will begin Friday at 7 a.m. CT, and the second round will follow that afternoon. Saturday will feature the third round, and the final round will be played on Sunday.
WEATHER FORECAST
Friday: Rain with a high of 60 degrees and wind from the west at 14 mph.
Saturday: Partly cloudy with a high of 67 degrees and wind from the west-northwest at 8 mph.
Sunday: Party cloudy with a high of 68 degrees and wind from the west at 13 mph.
OU’S BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
Last season, Oklahoma won its second Big 12 title in program history, posting a 72-hole 1139 (+19) to win at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla. The Sooners also won the Big 12 title in 2006. Grant Hirschman finished as a co-medalist at the event.
LIVE SCORING
Live scoring is available on GolfStat.com<http://golfstat.com.