Oklahoma golf: Sooners 17 strokes back heading to final 18 holes in NCAA Regional
By Chip Rouse
The men’s Oklahoma golf team shot four-strokes better than in day one of the NCAA Albuquerque Regional, but still finds itself mired in ninth place heading to the final round on Wednesday.
The Sooners, the No. 1 overall seed in the 2021 NCAA Men’s Golf Championship, find themselves 17 strokes behind the leader, Oregon State and in jeopardy of falling outside of the top five, which is where they have to finish to advance to the NCAA Championship in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Senior Jonathan Brightwell, a transfer from North Carolina-Greensboro, continues to lead OU with a 36-round total of eight-under-par 136, which ties him for second place on the individual leaderboard. His 12 birdies over 36 holes leads the field at the par-72 University of New Mexico Championship Course.
The best score of the second round for a Sooner, however, came from senior Grant Reband, who fired a four-under 68 and is tied for 30th overall.
Senior Quade Cummins and junior Logan McAllister both shot one-over rounds of 73 on Tuesday, and the Sooners fifth player, junior Blake Lorenz shot 74.
Oregon State (-20) and second-place Texas Tech (-15), a team OU was 19 strokes better than in the Big 12 Championship, are likely out of the Sooners’ reach, but their sites will be lasered in on Arizona State (-12) and Texas A&M and South Carolina, both currently at eight-under, for one of the final three spots to stay alive in the championship.
The top-ranked Sooners are also in serious danger of not making it into the match-play portion, or quarterfinal round, of the NCAA Golf Championship for the first time since 2016. They were crowned national champions in 2017.