Oklahoma State University Athletics
Howell, Cowboys Cruise To Big 12 Men's Golf Title
April 10, 2003 | Cowboy Golf
Howell carded a two-under-par 68 in Tuesday's final round to finish at 10-under 200 for the tournament, giving him the individual title by 10 strokes over teammate Edward Loar, whose even-par score of 210 would have ranked second in Big 12 history before Howell's onslaught.
Howell and Loar led the Cowboys to a team score of 851, 12 strokes ahead of second-place and defending champion Kansas. OSU earned its 48th conference championship, its 39th in 43 years and its third in the four years of Big 12 play. Since OSU joined the Big Eight Conference in 1957-58, it has never failed to win the team conference title in consecutive years and has not gone more than two years without producing a medalist. Howell is the first OSU player to win the conference tournament since Leif Westerberg in 1997.
Howell tied the Big 12 record for lowest single-round score with his 66s in the first and second rounds Monday. His 36-hole score of 132 broke Westerberg's conference record by three strokes, and his final score of 200 bested the 1999 score of then-medalist David Gossett of Texas by nine.
Howell's 200-stroke performance fell just one stroke shy of the school record for 54-hole score in any event; Lindy Miller fired 199s in the fall of 1976 and the spring of 1978 (records are recorded since Mike Holder's first season as golf coach in 1973-74). Prior to this season, OSU golfers under Holder's tutelage had recorded scores of 202 or better just six times; Howell has done so three times this season.
Howell also set several Prairie Dunes Country Club marks for Big Eight and Big 12 Tournaments. In the previous nine league tourneys at Prairie Dunes, Cowboy Michael Bradley's 206 in the 1987 event -- the first played in Hutchinson -- stood as the individual record until Howell's 200.
OSU's team score of 851 is also a Big 12 record, six strokes better than Kansas' winning card last season. The Cowboys also set Big 12 records for single-round scoring (272 in the second round) and score through two rounds (559).
Individually after Howell and Loar, Anders Hultman finished 15th at 219, 9-over-par. Landry Mahan finished 30th at 226, and J.C. DeLeon was 46th at 232.
The Cowboys return to action May 13-14 when they compete in The Maxwell by Pontiac in Ardmore, Okla.
2000 Big 12 Conference Men's Golf Championship
Prairie Dunes Golf & Country Club
Hutchinson, Kan., April 24-25
Par 70, 6,637 yards
Final Team Standings (After 54 Holes) Par 840
1. Oklahoma State 287-272-292 851 (+11)
2. Kansas 287-282-294 863 (+23)
3. Colorado 285-292-296 873 (+33)
4. Texas 286-286-304 876 (+36)
5. Texas A&M 284-289-304 877 (+37)
6. Baylor 292-292-303 887 (+47)
7. Oklahoma 296-291-306 893 (+53)
8. Texas Tech 291-291-313 895 (+55)
9. Missouri 297-295-305 897 (+57)
10. Kansas State 297-291-317 905 (+65)
11. Iowa State 304-299-309 912 (+72)
12. Nebraska 304-306-317 927 (+87)
Individual Leaders and OSU Scores
1. Charles Howell, OSU 66-66-68--200 -10
2. Edward Loar, OSU 72-68-70--210 E
3. Matt Brost, Texas 69-73-70--212 +2
4. Casey Harbour, Kansas 70-72-71--213 +3
5. Sean Gilliland, Texas A&M 70-67-77--214 +4
6. David Bolen, Texas Tech 71-75-70--216 +6
Conrad Roberts, Kansas 74-71-71--216 +6
8. Bryan Milberger, Kansas State 71-69-77--217 +7
Ryan Vermeer, Kansas 72-68-77--217 +7
Brandon Sanders, Baylor 74-66-77--217 +7
T15. Anders Hultman, OSU 76-67-76--219 +9
T30. Landry Mahan, OSU 73-75-78--226 +16
T46. J.C. DeLeon, OSU 77-71-84--232 +22
