Men’s Golf Set for Big 12 Championships Starting Monday

Santiago De La Fuente, First-day preview

TRINITY, Texas – For the first time in program history, the University of Houston Men's Golf program will tee off at the Big 12 Championships when it begins First-Round competition at Whispering Pines Golf Club on Monday morning.

Schools will play 36 holes beginning at 7:30 a.m. Monday with 18 holes scheduled each day at 8 a.m., for the Third and Final Rounds, respectively.

With seedings based on the latest Clippd national rankings, the Cougars will compete as the No. 7 seed at the 2024 Big 12 Championships.

In their most recent action, the Cougars finished fifth at the Thunderbird Intercollegiate at Papago Golf Club in Tucson, Ariz., on April 12-13.

LIVE SCORING
Fans can follow live scoring at the Big 12 Championships by clicking here.

TUNE IN
Fans can watch Wednesday's Final Round beginning at 12:30 p.m., on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ with Ryan Burr and Suzy Whaley calling the action.

MEET the COUGARS
Under the leadership of Director of Golf Jonathan Dismuke, the Cougars will be represented by senior Santiago De La Fuente, super senior Austyn Reily, freshman Chi Chun Chen, junior Wolfgang Glawe and junior Jacob Borow.

This season, De La Fuente leads the Cougars with a 70.61 scoring average and 14 rounds of par or better. The Guadalajara, Mexico, native current stands at No. 19 in the latest Clippd national rankings.

He recently competed at The Masters at Augusta National Golf Club after earning an invitation from his title win at the Latin America Amateur Championship in Panama City, Panama, in late January, and received exemptions to compete at the U.S. Open Championship and The Open Championship later this season.

Reily stands second among the Cougars with a 72.14 average and recently tied for 15^th at the Valspar Collegiate Invitational at Floridian National Golf Club on March 25-26.

Borow is a close third with a 72.29 average but stands second on the team with 11 rounds of par or lower. He captured the first individual championship of his collegiate career with a score of 16-under 200 at the HCU Colin Montgomerie Invitational at Sweetwater Country Club in Sugar Land, Texas, on March 4-5.

TEAM FIELD
The Cougars will compete in a 14-team field which includes #12 Texas Tech, #14 Oklahoma, #17 Texas, #27 Oklahoma State, #35 Baylor, #41 BYU, West Virginia, Kansas State, Kansas, Iowa State, Cincinnati, TCU and UCF.

TEE TIMES
For Monday's play, the Cougars will compete in groups with student-athletes from West Virginia and Kansas State. Houston will begin off No. 1 at 8:20 a.m., with an afternoon start off No. 10.

Tee times and pairings for the Tuesday's and Wednesday's Third and Final Rounds, respectively, will be based on 36- and 54-hole team totals and player rankings.

Fans can find complete Big 12 Championships tee times and pairings by clicking here.

CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS HISTORY
For the 59^th time in school history, Houston will compete in a Men's Golf conference championships event.

The 2024 Big 12 Championships marks the fifth different league in which the Cougars will compete, joining American Athletic Conference (2014-23), Conference USA (1997-2013), Southwest Conference (1974-96) and the Missouri Valley Conference (1951-60). Houston competed as an independent from 1961 to 1973.

The Cougars have captured 21 team championships with 22 individual titles at conference championships during the program's history.

In the most recent appearance, the Cougars took the lead in the first group off the first hole in the First Round off Reily's eagle and never looked back in winning the American Athletic Conference Championships title at Peligan Golf Club in Belleair, Fla., on April 21-23, 2023.

De La Fuente fired three straight rounds in the 60s to earn medalist honors at 10-under 200 while Reily finished second at 203.

In 2024, De La Fuente will compete in his fourth conference championships in his third different league, joining American Athletic Conference (2023) and Great American Conference (2021-22 with Arkansas Tech). Reily and Borow each will compete in their third conference postseason events with Glawe making his second appearance with the Cougars.

Chen will make his inaugural conference championships appearance this season.

UP NEXT
Following the Big 12 Championships, the Cougars will learn their postseason fate during the NCAA Selection Show. That show will air at 1 p.m., Wednesday, May 1, on Golf Channel.

NCAA Regional play is set for May 13-15 at one of six sites across the nation.

Those postseason venues include The University of Texas Golf Club (Austin, Texas; hosted by Texas); University Club (Baton Rouge, La., hosted by LSU); UNC Finley Golf Course (Chapel Hill, N.C.; hosted by North Carolina); The Farms Golf Club (Rancho Santa Fe., Calif.; hosted by San Diego); Stanford Golf Course (Stanford, Calif., hosted by Stanford) and Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex (West Lafayette, Ind; hosted by Purdue).

The top five teams and top individual not on a qualifying team at each NCAA Regional advance to the NCAA Championships set for Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif., on May 24-29.

SUPPORT the COOGS
Fans can make a direct impact on the success of Houston Men's Golf by supporting Linking Coogs – UH's NIL collective – and by joining Project 17, which provides financial support directly to Houston Men's Golf for needs beyond its operating budget.

STAY CONNECTED
Fans can receive updates by following @UHCougarMGolf on Twitter and catch up with the latest news and notes on the team by clicking LIKE on the team's Facebook page at UHCougarMGolf. Fans also can follow the team on Instagram at uhcougarmgolf.

– UHCougars.com –

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