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NEW YORK - Oklahoma City University ascended to the top spot in the final Golf World/Nike Golf NAIA men's golf coaches rankings of the fall season.
Oklahoma City ends the fall as the No. 1 team in the poll, earning 11 of the 13 first-place votes. The poll combines the resources of Golf World magazine, Nike Golf and the Golf Coaches Association of America.
Rounding out the top five are Savannah Art & Design (Ga.) at No. 2, Johnson & Wales (Fla.) at No. 3, British Columbia at No. 4 and Malone (Ohio) at No. 5.
Defending NAIA and Sooner Athletic Conference champion Oklahoma Christian checked in at No. 9, while Oklahoma Baptist sat at No. 14 and Southern Nazarene was rated No. 21. To see the rankings, click here. The Stars won the NAIA Preview Invitational on Oct. 16 for their third tournament title in four starts this fall. OCU bested eight top-25 teams in the Preview Invitational in Silvis, Ill., at TPC Deere Run, site of the 2010 and 2011 NAIA Championships.
OCU has been led by a pair of South African freshmen. Michael Palmer had a team-low 73.00 scoring average through 11 fall rounds, while Sondre Ronold recorded 73.13 strokes per 18 holes this fall.
The Stars have won national championships in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007.
"We've got a lot of hard work ahead of us, but I believe this could be a very special group," OCU coach Kyle Blaser said. "I am proud of the semester we had considering how much the lineup varied from week to week. I think we have a ton of depth this year and a pretty darn good class of freshmen to go along with our senior leadership."
The complete rankings will appear in the Nov. 30 issue of Golf World and can be viewed online at www.golfworld.com beginning Dec. 2.