Texas celebrates fourth consecutive Big 12 championship
(University of Texas Photo)
TRINITY, TX (May 1, 2016) - For the fourth straight year the University of Texas has won the Big 12 Championship. It was their 47th conference title in program history. No. 1 Texas (-14) was the only team under-par after 72-holes of play as they left the rest of the field in the dust. The Longhorns began the day leading by seven shots and ended it ahead by 26-strokes.
No. 6 Oklahoma State (+12) finished second and Texas Tech (+13) was third.
"For us to do this four years in a row is super special," Texas head coach John Fields told Texas athletics. "I don't take lightly all the teams in the Big 12 that have all won college golf tournaments this year. They're all really good. This golf course is really great. For us, it all adds up to just an honor to say we are Big 12 Champions."
Texas left nothing to chance on the final day at Whispering Pines Golf Club, firing a team final round score of 15-under. The Longhorns set a conference record as all five players had an even-par or subpar final round.
Junior Beau Hossler (-5) led Texas shooting his best round of the weekend with a 3-under 69 and finished tied for second. Hossler birdied four holes and bogeyed just one. After sharing the individual lead following the second round Hossler finished one-stroke behind medalist winner Stratton Nolen of Oklahoma State.
"It has been awesome, a good ride. Certainly, I'm really proud of the guys this year. Like the last couple of years, we were able to play really well at this tournament. It's a really good conference," Beau Hossler said. "We have some stiff competition. Anytime you can be consistently beating those other teams, it's good for the program. I'm proud of the guys. They've worked hard, and I've worked hard as well. Today was the first time we all played really well."
Three other Texas players also finished inside the top-10. Sophomore Doug Ghim (-3) was tied for fourth, junior Gavin Hall (-2) finished tied for sixth and sophomore Scottie Scheffler (E) was ninth. Redshirt sophomore Taylor Funk (+11) ended his 72-holes tied for 25th.
In the medalist race Oklahoma State redshirt sophomore Stratton Nolen was a bit of a surprise winner. Nolen shot a final round 2-under 70 and picked up his first win of the season. With the win he became the ninth Cowboy ever to win individual honors at the Big 12 Championship. PGA Tour player Morgan Hoffman was the last winning the championship twice in 2009 and 2011.
Nolen got off to a bit of a slow start playing even-par golf on the front nine. As a result he needed to make a back nine move and he did just that. Following a 10th hole bogey Nolen surged with birdies on three of the next four holes to move in front.
The aforementioned mentioned Hossler tied for second with TCU senior Paul Barjon at 5-under. Barjon had held at least a share of the lead after each of the first three rounds but shot a final round 1-over 73 to end one back. Kansas State freshman Jeremy Gandon and Texas' Ghim were tied for fourth at 3-under to round out the top-five.
-The University of Texas and University of Oklahoma athletics contributed to this story
ABOUT THE Big 12 Championship
72 hole men's collegiate championship of the Big
12 Conference. Team (best four scores out of five
players each round) and individual competitions.
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