Oklahoma golf: No 1 Sooners have ground to make up in NCAA Regional
By Chip Rouse
After the opening round in the NCAA Albuquerque Regional, the men’s Oklahoma golf team finds itself with some ground to make up.
The Sooners, seeded No. 1 overall in this year’s NCAA Men’s Golf Championship, find themselves eight strokes back of the leader, Oregon State, after the first round of NCAA Regional action on Monday.
Oklahoma is one of 14 teams competing at the par-72 University of New Mexico Championship Course in Albuquerque. No. 41 Oregon State leads the field after 18 holes with a team score of seven-under-par 281. No, 22 Texas Tech, out of the Big 12, sits in second place, two strokes back at five-under 283 and host New Mexico and Texas A&M are at four-under 284.
Oklahoma is currently tied for ninth with Boise State, both with team scores of one-over-par 289.
OU redshirt senior Jonathan Brightwell led the Sooners and had the best 18-hole score of the opening round with a six-under-par 66. Junior Logan McAllister also shot under par in the first round for the Sooners, finishing with a two-under 70 over the 7,555-yard track that sits at an elevation of 5,300 feet above sea level.
Two-time All-American and the Sooners’ No. 1 player, Grant Reband, shot four-under 76 in Monday’s opening round. Reband is making is third NCAA Regional appearance.
The regional format consists of 54 holes over three days. After 54 holes, the top five teams and the low individual not on one of those five teams will advance to the NCAA Golf Championship May 28 to June 2 at the Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Oklahoma men’s golf finished fifth in the NCAA Championship in 2019, fourth in 2018 and was crowned national champion in 2017