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Oklahoma golf: Sooners edged by Texas on 90th hole in NCAA match play

By Chip Rouse

AVONDALE, LOUISIANA - APRIL 28: J.B. Holmes of the United States plays a shot from a bunker on the 18th hole during the final round of the Zurich Classic at TPC Louisiana on April 28, 2019 in Avondale, Louisiana. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
AVONDALE, LOUISIANA - APRIL 28: J.B. Holmes of the United States plays a shot from a bunker on the 18th hole during the final round of the Zurich Classic at TPC Louisiana on April 28, 2019 in Avondale, Louisiana. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) /
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You can’t get more dramatic than what the Oklahoma golf match-play pairing with Texas came down to in the NCAA Championship on Tuesday.

With the team match all square at two apiece and the final pairing between OU’s Garrett Reband and freshman Parker Coody of Texas all even after 16 holes, the outcome of the final pairing and the chance to move on to the semifinal round on Tuesday afternoon was in the hands of these two young competitors.

Coody rolled in a birdie putt on the eighth hole at The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Arkansas, (played as the 17th hole in the round) to break the tie and provide the winning margin for the Longhorns. Reband was unable to get the point back as the two golfers halved the final hole, clinching the3-2  victory for No. 4-seeded Texas.

“You’ve got to get three (match points), and we were right there where we needed to be to get three and it just didn’t work out,” said Sooner head coach Ryan Hybl in his post-match comments to representatives of the media.

“You’ve got to get three (match points), and we were right there to get three, but it just didn’t work out,” — Oklahoma head coach Ryan Hybl

Tuesday’s play marked the end of the collegiate careers for Sooner seniors Brad Dalke and Blaine Hale, who were competing in their fourth consecutive match-play portion of the NCAA Championship. They both were on the Oklahoma team that won the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship in 2017.

Dalke won his final collegiate match, defeating Spencer Soosman 3 and 1 (up three holes with one hole to play). Hale was not as fortunate, falling 4-3 in his pairing with Texas’ Steven Chervony.

OU junior Quade Cummins won his match against Parker Coody’s twin brother, Pierceson, 2 and 1. Sooner freshman Patrick Welch, who has had a superlative NCAA Championship, finishing in a tie for 11th place on the individual leaderboard in 72-hole stroke play, had a difficult outing in his match-play pairing, losing 7 and 5 to Texas freshman Cole Hammer.

It may have been a disappointing way to end the 2019 season for the OU men, but looking at the season through a wide lens, it was another highly successful season for the Sooner golf team. They are the only team to advance to the match-play portion of the NCAA Championship in each of the last four seasons.

The Sooners won three tournaments this season and finished third or better in each of the last six regular season tournaments in which they participated. OU was the No. 6 seed entering this year’s NCAA Championship, and they more than lived up to that placement in another deep championship run.

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