Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboy Golf Looks To Defend Big 12 Title
April 22, 2006 | Cowboy Golf
Oklahoma State's men's golf team will look to defend its title at the Big 12 Championship this week in Tulsa, Okla. at historic Southern Hills Country Club. Last year, the Cowboys captured their first league title since 2000 and their 49th in the 59-year history of the program. The tournament will consist of 36 holes on Monday before the final 18 will be played Tuesday morning at the par-70, 7,055-yard layout.
OSU At The Big 12 Championship
OSU has won a league-best four Big 12 titles since the formation of the conference in 1996. OSU won the inaugural tournament in 1997 and repeated in 1998 before claiming titles in 2000 and 2005. The Cowboys have also produced the event's individual medalist on four occasions, with Leif Westerberg (1997), Charles Howell (2000), Anders Hultman (2002) and Hunter Mahan (2003) all taking top honors. In the event's lone stop at Southern Hills in 2003, the Cowboys finished second to Texas, but produced the medalist as Mahan cruised to a 13-shot victory. Overall, the Cowboys have won 49 league titles and produced 41 individual champions.
A Look Back ... 2005 Big 12 Championship
Oklahoma State's top-ranked men's golf team finished with a 4-over 868 total to finish nine shots better than runner-up Oklahoma and 17 strokes ahead of third-place Missouri at Whispering Pines Golf Course. The championship was OSU's league-leading fourth Big 12 title and is the 49th conference crown in the 59-year history of the program. A trio of Cowboys turned in top-10 performances during the weekend, the most by an OSU squad in the tournament since having four players achieve the feat in 1998. Alex Norén followed up his third-place finish in 2004 as the runner-up at 2-under 214. Zack Robinson vaulted into third place with a final-round 68 to finish at 215. Tyler Leon tied for eighth place at 4-over 220. Pablo Martin tied for 11th at 221, while Ryan Posey tied for 25th place at 229.
What 2 Watch 4
The Cowboys are 20-2 this season against Big 12 foes ... OSU will be looking to win consecutive league crowns for the first time since winning the first two Big 12 titles in 1997 and 1998 .... OSU has had a top-five individual in each of its eight events ... three players, Chris Clarke, Tyler Leon and Pablo Martin, in the OSU lineup have Big 12 experience, have posted four top 20s in five starts and have tallied a combined 74.0 stroke average through 12 rounds ... redshirt freshman Jonathan Moore has a string of three consecutive top fives and sophomore Pablo Martin has not finished out of the top 10 in eight starts this season.
