Veteran Sooner squad competing at a familiar course at Mason Rudolph Championship.
Sept. 20, 2012
NORMAN, Okla. – The University of Oklahoma men's golf team travels to Franklin, Tenn., this week to participate in the Mason Rudolph Championship. The 15-team tournament hosted by Vanderbilt will be held Sept. 21-23 at the par-71, 7,100-yard Vanderbilt Legends Club South Course.
OU, No. 22 in Golfweek.com’s preseason rankings, will be competing for the third straight year in the event. The Sooners placed fourth in 2010 and 2011.
OU’s lineup includes four golfers who participated in at least one previous Mason Rudolph Championship -- senior Abraham Ancer, junior Michael Schoolcraft, sophomore Charlie Saxon and senior Will Kropp -- as well as freshman Beau Titsworth.
"One of the reasons I continue to go to certain places is to, hopefully, have our guys be familiar with the golf courses in front of them," OU head coach Ryan Hybl said. "This is a great example. All of my guys have played here before except (Beau) Titsworth, but he actually played here in a junior golf event."
Ancer earned his second top-10 finish at last year’s event in Tennessee with a share of ninth place. He tied for 19th in OU’s 2012 season opener at the Gopher Invitational with a three-round 227 (+11).
Schoolcraft is participating in his third Mason Rudolph. As a freshman in 2010, Schoolcraft finished 1 over par and tied for 17th place in Franklin. Last season, he earned a share of 28th place with a 4-over 217. Schoolcraft will look to improve this season after carding a 19-over 235 in the team’s first event.
Kropp made his OU debut at the Mason Rudolph in 2010. The Georgia transfer turned in an impressive 5-under performance to finish with a share of third place. Kropp, who tied for ninth place at the 2012 NCAA Championships, is competing in the first event of his senior season.
Saxon led the field as a freshman after 18 holes at the 2011 Mason Rudolph before finishing his second collegiate event in a tie for 31st place.
Titsworth rounds out the Sooners’ lineup this weekend. The freshman made his collegiate debut at the Gopher Invitational and finished with a team-best share of 15th place, carding a three-round 224 (+8).
"Hopefully we will be able to use these experiences to our benefit and go perform at a high level," Hybl said.
Sophomore Michael Gellerman will compete at the event as an individual.
The 15-team field also features Arkansas State, College of Charleston, Davidson College, East Tennessee State, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Middle Tennessee State (defending champion), Mississippi, Mississippi State, Rice, South Alabama, Tennessee Tech, Vanderbilt and Virginia.
Eighteen holes will be played Friday, Saturday and Sunday with fixed tee times on hole Nos. 1 and 10 starting at 8 a.m. CT on Friday and Saturday and 7:30 a.m. CT Sunday. Kropp will tee off first for the Sooners on the first hole at 8:45 a.m. CT. OU is paired with Vanderbilt and Virginia for the first round.
Results from each day will be posted to SoonerSports.com. Live scoring is available on Golfstat.com.
