Oklahoma golf: Sooners advance to NCAA Championship final vs. Pepperdine
By Chip Rouse
The Oklahoma golf team is back in the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship final for the second time in the last four championships.
The fourth-seeded Sooners will take on reigning champion and No. 3-seeded Pepperdine in a match-play showdown for the national title on Wednesday at the Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Oklahoma defeated Illinois 3 and 2 in the quarterfinal round on Tuesday morning, and followed that with a similar 3 and 2 victory over No. 1-seeded Arizona State in a semifinal match Tuesday afternoon.
Playing in temperatures that reached 100-plus degrees in the afternoon, the Sooners rallied from behind in both of Tuesday’s matches, riding individual wins by seniors Jonathan Brightwell and Quad Cummins and junior Logan McAllister in both the morning and afternoon sessions that advanced them to the championship final.
That same trio of Sooners has been golden all season for the Sooners. Together, they have produced a record of 23-4 in match-play competition in 2020-21.
OU head coach Ryan Hybl endured the heat wearing a logoed sweater vest that he had worn during the NCAA national championship won by the Sooners. He said he had pulled off the cleaner’s tag Tuesday morning for the first time since that 2017 season in hope that it would bring good luck to the team in its quarterfinal and semifinal matches.
Oklahoma is very familiar with Pepperdine. The Sooners and Waves faced each other in the East Lake Cup last fall. They swapped the No. 1 ranking after Pepperdine defeated OU 4-1.
Oklahoma is hoping to avenge that loss on Wednesday and bring home the national championship trophy, the first of the 2020-21 academic year by an OU athletic program.