SALT LAKE CITY — No. 24 BYU men’s golf will compete in the Big 12 Match Play at The Country Club in Salt Lake City from Monday through Wednesday, Oct. 12-14.
The Cougars are the defending champions after defeating Baylor 4-1 in the championship match in October 2024. The tournament was not held in 2025.
Sophomore Kihei Akina leads the lineup alongside freshman Drake Harvey and sophomore Parker Bunn. David Liechty, Cooper Jones and Lincoln Markham will make their team debuts after competing individually earlier this season. Five of the six Cougars will be selected to compete before each round.
All 16 Big 12 teams will compete in the tournament. BYU joins No. 2 Oklahoma State, No. 3 Arizona State, No. 5 Texas Tech, Arizona, Baylor, Cincinnati, Colorado, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, TCU, UCF, Utah and West Virginia.
The tournament begins with each team facing three opponents in pool play, with seeding determined by the Big 12 coaches’ rankings. The Cougars earned the No. 6 seed, placing them in a pool with Arizona State, Utah and Iowa State.
The winner of each pool advances to the championship bracket, while the remaining teams compete in consolation matches to determine their final placements.
BYU is coming off a third-place finish at the William H. Tucker Invitational. Akina was the low finisher at 10-under par, tying for fourth individually, and has posted top-five finishes in both events this season.
The Cougars will face rival Utah on Monday in the first round of pool play, beginning with a shotgun start at 8 a.m. MDT. Live scoring will be available at scoreboard.com. First-round matchups and hole assignments have not yet been announced.