Sooners Set For Title Defense at Big 12 Championship

Big 12 Championship

April 24-26 / 72 Holes / Hutchinson, Kan. / Prairie Dunes Country Club

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Oklahoma men's golf team is set to open the postseason with a title defense at the Big 12 Championship, held this season at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan., April 24-26. The Sooners won their 18th conference championship last season and second in the last four seasons.

The three-day, 72-hole championship is one of the toughest tests in college golf as the league title returns to Prairie Dunes for the 14th time. In the Sooners' previous 13 trips to the Dunes, OU has grabbed a trio of runner-up finishes, including most recently in 2021, but are seeking the program's first win at the course. For the first time ever, the final round of the championship will be streamed on ESPN+.

Oklahoma, who enters the postseason as the 11th-ranked team in the country, leads the Big 12 in scoring average (70.48), score vs. par (-0.76), birdies (541) and top-50 players (4). Head coach Ryan Hybl's team won three events in the regular season, taking home team titles at the Ka'anapali Classic, Puerto Rico Classic and The Goodwin. Oklahoma has now won at least three different events in six consecutive full seasons, the longest streak in program history. The Sooners have won an astonishing 11 of their last 21 stroke-play events dating back to last season.

The Oklahoma lineup boasts four top-50 players and the entire group of five sits in Golfstat's top 100. Led by three-time All-America honoree Patrick Welch, Hybl's team will lean on Ben Lorenz, who has led the team in scoring average this season, as well as freshman Jase Summy, sophomore Drew Goodman and redshirt sophomore Stephen Campbell Jr. Jake Holbrook is OU's sixth bag, available as a substitute. Four members of the Oklahoma lineup have played in at least eight of the team's nine tournaments, and of the lineup's combined 117 rounds played this season, 52 were fired in the 60s, good for 44%.

THE FIELD BY GOLFSTAT RANKING

No. 5 Texas Tech
No. 11 Oklahoma
No. 14 Texas
No. 20 Oklahoma State
No. 24 Kansas State
No. 29 Baylor
No. 38 TCU
No. 54 Kansas
No. 90 Iowa State
No. 122 West Virginia

FORMAT

Teams will play 72 holes over three days of play: 36 on Monday, followed by 18 on Tuesday and Wednesday. A win at the Championship would make Oklahoma the Big 12's automatic qualifier bid for NCAAs. The top 10 players on the individual leaderboard all earn All-Tournament honors.

HISTORY

The Sooners have won 18 conference championships, including three since the formation of the Big 12. Under head coach Ryan Hybl, Oklahoma claimed the 2018 and 2022 Big 12 Championships, and hasn't finished outside of the top three at the championship since 2017.

In 2022, the Sooners claimed their 18th conference championship and second Big 12 title of the Ryan Hybl era. The top-ranked Sooners erased a four-shot deficit over the last four holes to knock off three other top-10 teams and win the conference crown. All five Sooners finished inside the top 20 with Chris Gotterup (2nd), Logan McAllister (T6), Patrick Welch (T9) and Drew Goodman (T11) inside the top 15.

COVERAGE

Live scoring will be available on Golfstat.com. For the first time, the final round of the championship will be streamed on ESPN+.

WEATHER

Weather could become a factor as rain is forecasted all three days in Hutchinson. The 2022 championship was shortened to 54 holes due to weather.

Monday: High of 53 with 60% chance of precipitation. Winds 15-20 mph.
Tuesday: High of 54 with 80% chance of precipitation. Winds 15-20 mph.
Wednesday: High of 55 with 70% chance of precipitation. Winds of 10-15 mph.

THE COURSE

Prairie Dunes will be set up as a par 70, 6,947-yard course. A world-renowned course designed by Perry Maxwell, the Dunes have hosted the Big 12 Championship 13 times before 2023. It was ranked the No. 31 course in the world by Golfweek in 2021.