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Sooners Lead Conference With Four All-Big 12 Selections

June 08, 2023 | Men's Golf

NORMAN – A league-high four Oklahoma golfers were selected to the All-Big 12 men's golf team, it was revealed Thursday by the conference.

Determined by the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings, Drew Goodman, Ben Lorenz, Jase Summy and Patrick Welch each earned one of the 10 spots on the All-Conference team. Oklahoma paced the Big 12 in honorees for the second time in three seasons and equaled the program's record with four selections in a season, tying the 2021 team.

Goodman, in a year where he earned his second consecutive PING All-America honor, received his inaugural All-Big 12 accolade. The sophomore from Norman finished No. 40 in the Golfweek rankings, the highest for a Sooner this season and fourth in the Big 12. His season average of 70.05 (-0.97) was the sixth lowest in program history, and his 158 birdies set a program record. He secured five top-five finishes, along with eight inside the top 20. He was the runner-up at the NCAA Norman Regional and made the Big 12's All-Tournament Team with a fifth-place finish at Prairie Dunes.

Ben Lorenz becomes a first-time All-Big 12 selection after piecing together one of the best springs in program history. In his eight events played in 2023, he nabbed six top-10 finishes, highlighted by his first career win at The Goodwin. The Peoria, Ariz., product finished third at the NCAA Norman Regional after a top-10 finish at the Big 12 Championship. His 70.20 (-0.88) was the seventh lowest in Oklahoma history, and his 9-under-par performance at The Goodwin registered as the 15th-best 54-hole score in the program's annals.

Summy is the first OU freshman to earn All-Big 12 honors since Grant Hirschman in 2015 and just the 33rd freshman in the league's history to receive All-Conference recognition. Garnering the No. 56 spot in the national rankings, the Keller, Texas, native posted a scoring average of 70.60 (-0.34), a new OU freshman record and 15th all-time in Norman. He shared medalist honors at the Boilermaker Invitational to close the regular season, and his 148 birdies on the year were the third most ever for a Sooner.

Despite four All-America honors, Patrick Welch's selection to the All-Big 12 team marked the second (2021) of his career. A scoring average of 70.35 (-0.79) over 34 rounds this season earned him the No. 55 ranking in Golfweek. His eight top-20 finishes matched Goodman for the most on the team, and his 14 rounds in the 60s also were tied for the team lead. Welch, who holds two of OU's lowest single-season scoring averages, leaves Oklahoma placed within the school's all-time top 10 in various categories, including low round vs. par (1st, -10), career average (3rd, 71.25), wins (T7, 2), par-or-better rounds (1st, 92), rounds played (5th, 143), finish percentage (6th, 74.8%), birdies (2nd, 515), eagles (4th, 14) and more.

The quartet's inclusion to the All-Big 12 team increased Hybl's total number of players named All-Big 12 to 19, with 10 of them receiving the honor since 2021. This brings Oklahoma's overall count of All-Big 12 selections to 32, third most in the Big 12. Since 2021, Oklahoma has had the most selections with 10, while Oklahoma State and Texas are tied for second with eight selections each.