Oklahoma golf: Sooners 4th headed to NCAA Championship match play
By Chip Rouse
The No. 2-seeded Oklahoma golf team finished fourth in the 72-hole stroke-play portion of the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship and advanced to the two-day match-play segment of the championship format.
The Sooners began Monday’s final round at the Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, in second place at one-over par after 54 holes, but bloomed to a nine-over score of 289 over the final 18 holes, their highest score of the four rounds of stroke play.
Oklahoma State, which had a 13-stroke lead over OU after 54 holes, also struggled on Monday, dropping to second, three shots back of Arizona State, after finishing 12 strokes over par 292 on Monday and even-par 1190 for 72 holes.
The 30-team field in the championship was cut to 15 after 54 holes, with just eight moving on to the Match-Play Finals after Monday’s round. Pepperdine moved ahead of Oklahoma into third place, with its lowest round of championship (nine-under 271). The Waves finished the 72 holes at plus-five, five shots better than the fourth-place Sooners.
Rounding out the eight-team match-play field are Illinois, Florida State, Vanderbilt and North Carolina.
Oklahoma seniors Quade Cummins and Jonathan Brightwell tied for sixth place on the individual leaderboard with 72-hole scores of two-under-par 278. Both had been under par in the three previous rounds, but shot three-over-par and two-over, respectively on Monday.
Sooner junior Logan McAllister finished with a 72-hole score of three-over-par 283 and tied for 17th.
Oklahoma is the only school in the country that has advanced to the previous four Match-Play Finals in the NCAA Championship. The quarterfinal and semifinal rounds will be contested on Tuesday, with the remaining two schools after Tuesday moving on to Wednesday’s match-play final for the national championship.
The Sooners have won two national championships in golf in program history, most recently in 2017. They achieved their first national championship in 1989.
As the fourth-place team moving into the two days of match play, Oklahoma will probably be paired against fifth-place Florida State.