COL L EGE PR EV I EW
OCU's David Meyers on incredible roll by scott wright
OKLAHOMA CITY — After three years on the Oklahoma City University golf team, David Meyers decided he wanted to test the waters of professional golf. Meyers returned to his home in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2019 and entered qualifying school for the Sunshine Tour as an amateur. But Meyers didn’t qualify and was left without a plan for his immediate future. In the time that Meyers was gone from OCU, coach Kyle Blaser left the program, and Andy Crabtree was hired to replace him. A couple of months passed and Crabtree decided to reach out to Meyers. “Have you thought about coming back?” Crabtree asked. “You would let me do that?” Meyers responded. “Yeah, man. You’re one year from getting
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your degree, and you need to do that,” Crabtree told him. Meyers returned to OCU for the fall of 2019 and was playing well. Then the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the spring season of 2020, and Meyers was granted an additional year of eligibility. Meyers won the final two tournaments in the fall of 2020, then he won the first two tournaments to start the season in 2021. Four straight wins — a feat that is difficult to accomplish at any level, including NAIA. “He’s made it look easy,” Crabtree said. Of course, Crabtree didn’t know Meyers at all when he re-recruited him to OCU, so the coach was in the dark, other than reading some statistics and talking to other players. “I didn’t really know what I was getting into, because some people leave and they’re not appreciative, or things like that,” Crabtree said. “David is the most grateful, affable, humble star of a player and wonderful
David Meyers student you could ever have. He is teammate of the year. He is the whole deal.” Now, Meyers is accomplishing things that few OCU golfers ever have. Through the first 13 rounds of 2020-21, he had a stroke average of 68.23, on pace to break the OCU single-season record of 70.74 held by James Marchesani. Meyers’ four consecutive wins brought him to nine for his career, tying fellow South African Rupert Kaminski for the school record. Meyers’ career stroke average of 70.30 is on pace to break the record — also held by Kaminski — of 71.29. He’s a three-time Golf Coaches Association of America All-American, a two-time NAIA All-American and a two-time national player of the year semifinalist. And Meyers has an all-around game to go with it. He’s listed on the OCU website as 5-foot8 and 160 pounds, but Crabtree jokes that the weight might be a little generous. Yet Meyers has no trouble keeping up with the longest of hitters off the tee. “He’s exceptionally long with his irons,” Crabtree said. “In our home event at Gaillardia, he shot 16-under and hit 51 or 52 of 54 greens. He’s an incredibly steady, solid ball-striker. He has very good control over his ball flight and has a beautiful rhythm. “He doesn’t have a weakness in his game. His course management is really good. He knows how to win, knows how to close, and he’s most comfortable in those situations.” Meyers has always been a solid player, but credits his more recent success to a change in swing coaches while he was back home in South Africa. W W W.GOLFOKL AHOMA.ORG
