Sooners set to host regional at Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club Monday
NORMAN — For the second season in a row, the Oklahoma men’s golf team is set to host an NCAA Regional at Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club May 15-17. The 54-hole event will host 14 teams as some of the nation’s top golfers compete to advance to the 2023 NCAA Championship.
Oklahoma will be one of 14 teams in action at Jimmie Austin Golf Club. The 14-team, 54-hole tournament is one of six NCAA Regionals. It serves as the preliminary event for the NCAA Championship, which OU has advanced to every year since 2011, the second-longest streak in the nation. The low five teams and the low individual not on a qualifying team will attend the NCAA Championship, scheduled for May 26-31 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Awarded hosting privileges for the second year in a row, OU was tabbed as the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Norman Regional. With their selection, the ninth-ranked Sooners have earned a top-two seed in each of the last five years, including back-to-back No. 1 overall seeds in 2021 and 2022.
The Big 12 champion Sooners won the conference by defeating the field by 18 strokes at Prairie Dunes. In addition to its conference title, OU has three other wins this season – the Ka’anapali Classic, Puerto Rico Classic and The Goodwin. Runner-up finishes at the Frederica Cup, and Boilermaker Invite punctuated another strong regular season. Head coach Ryan Hybl’s team ranks third nationally in scoring average (278.88) and score vs. par (-5.81) and joins No. 1 Vanderbilt as one of two teams with their entire lineup inside the nation’s top 80.
Patrick Welch (3x All-American) and Ben Lorenz anchor the OU lineup as the veterans, freshman Jase Summy is on pace to break program records for a first-year player, and Drew Goodman and Stephen Campbell Jr. are in the mix for All-Big 12 honors. Jake Holbrook rounds out the potential OU contingent.
Oklahoma has advanced out of all three home regionals hosted in the Hybl era (2009-present), finishing fifth in 2012 and winning in 2018 and 2022. The course will also host an NCAA Women’s Regional in 2025.
Admission to the tournament is free.
THE FIELD WITH GOLFSTAT RANKING
(1) No. 5 Texas Tech
(2) No. 9 Oklahoma – Big 12 Champion
(3) No. 17 Alabama
(4) No. 20 Ole Miss
(5) No. 29 Wake Forest
(6) No. 32 Duke
(7) No. 41 LSU
(8) No. 44 North Florida
(9) No. 52 Colorado
(10) No. 56 Kansas
(11) No. 77 UNC Wilmington – Colonial Champion
(12) No. 131 Louisiana – Sun Belt Champion
(13) No. 182 Princeton – Ivy League Champion
(14) No. 269 Arkansas – Pine Bluff – SWAC Champion
THE COURSE
The Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club was designed and built by native Oklahoman Perry Maxwell in the early 1950s before being reworked by Bob Cupp in 1996 and then Tripp Davis in 2017. The course, situated initially on land used by the Navy Air Technical Training Center, has been the home of numerous championships and will host its sixth NCAA Regional in 2023. It will also play host to a women’s regional in 2025.
FORMAT
The 13-team, 54-hole tournament is one of six NCAA Regionals and serves as the preliminary event for the NCAA Championship, which OU has advanced to every year since 2011. The low five teams and the low individual not on a qualifying team will go to the NCAA Championship, slated for May 26-31 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.
TEE TIMES AND PAIRINGS
The Sooners tee off at 8 a.m. CT Monday with Texas Tech and Alabama. Pairings for Tuesday and Wednesday will be determined by the leaderboard.
LIVE STATS
Live scoring will be available on Golfstat.com.