Oklahoma golf: No. 1 Sooner men top quality field at Las Vegas Tournament
By Chip Rouse
Senior Patrick Welch captured the individual title, leading the men’s Oklahoma golf team to the team championship in the Southern Highlands Collegiate Tournament in Las Vegas over the weekend.
The No. 1-ranked Sooners beat out a quality field that included No. 5 Pepperdine, No. 15 Texas, Florida and Georgia Tech to record their third consecutive tournament win and second of the spring season.
Oklahoma shot a final round score of 12-under-par 276 to win by seven strokes over second-place Pepperdine. Texas finished third, nine shots back of the Sooners. The Sooners’ winning team score was 38-under 826.
Welch finished with a 54-hole winning score of 14-under 202, including a five-under 67 over the final 18 holes. It was his second career victory. He was the individual medalist in the East Lake Cup in 2020. The Sooner senior’s 54-hole score at Southern Highlands Golf Club equaled his career low score of 202 set just two weeks ago at the Puerto Rico Classic.
The Sooners held a seven-shot advantage (- entering the final round on Monday, but all of that evaporated over the front nine as Pepperdine drew even with the OU men at 29-under heading into the final nine holes. Oklahoma rallied on the back side, however, and was able to hold off the the team from Pepperdine as well as the Texas Longhorns.
In addition to Welch, OU freshman Drew Goodman tied for second on the overall leaderboard, three shots back of Welch (205, -11) and senior Logan McAllister tied for seventh place with a 54-hole score of nine-under (207).
As the medalist at Southern Highlands, Welch earned an invitation to the PGA Tour Shriners Hospitals for Children Open to be played Oct. 6-9 at the TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas.
With three straight tournament victories, Oklahoma becomes the third team in NCAA history to accomplish the feat.
The top-ranked Sooners are next in action March 18-19 at the Men’s NIT in Tucson, Arizona. OU will be seeking a fourth consecutive tournament title. So far in the 2021-22 season, the Sooners have four wins, two seconds and a third-place finish in seven outings.