Men’s golf ranked No. 1 in preseason poll

By Steve Lansdale

After coming up just short of a national championship last year, the University of Texas men’s golf team is the favorite to clear the final hurdle, according to the preseason Bushnell Golfweek Coaches poll.

The Longhorns, runners-up behind national champion Stanford last season, earned[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] 542 points and nine first-place votes to claim the top spot in the first poll of the season.

The Longhorns welcome back four of their starting five from last season: sophomore Cole Hammer, junior Spencer Soosman and sophomores Parker Coody and Pierceson Coody.

The most decorated of the group is Hammer, winner of the Mark H. McCormack Medal, which is given annually to the leading men’s player in the 2019 World Amateur Golf Ranking^TM(WAGR) and a member of the All-Nicklaus team, which is selected by the Golf Coaches Association of America. In his debut season at UT, Hammer was the winner of the Div. I Phil Mickelson Outstanding Freshman Award after a season in which he won two tournaments and had eight top-10 finishes.

Bushnell Golfweek Coaches Poll

Rank       Team (first-place votes)
1. Texas (9)
2. Arizona State (5)
3. Georgia Tech (2)
4. Oklahoma State (3)
5. Vanderbilt (1)
6. Wake Forest
7. Oklahoma
8. Auburn
9. Stanford (2)
10. Pepperdine(1)
11. USC
12. Duke
13. Georgia
14. Texas A&M
15. LSU
16. California
17. Clemson
18. Texas Tech
19. Illinois
20. Baylor
21. Alabama
22. South Carolina
23. North Carolina
24. SMU
25. Florida

Others receiving votes: Arkansas (63), Florida State (59), Liberty (47), Louisville (41), Tennessee (38), North Florida (37), UCLA (27), BYU (21), TCU (21), N.C. State (17), Cincinnati (13), Tennessee Tech (13), Iowa State (8), UNLV (6), Fresno State (4), Kansas (2), Marquette (2), Ohio State (2), San Diego State (2), Virginia (2), Arkansas State (1), Iowa (1), Notre Dame (1), Oregon (1)
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