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Oklahoma golf: No. 1 Sooners mount closing charge for 5th win of season

By Chip Rouse

Oklahoma's Patrick Welch reacts on the 18th hole during the final round of the Calusa Cup, Tuesday, April 5, 2022, at Calusa Pines Golf Club in Naples, Fla.Georgia Tech won the tournament as a team with a score of 856 Florida's Fred Biondi and Georgia Tech's Bartley Forrester won the tournament as individuals with a score of 211.College Golf: Calusa Cup final round, April 5, 2022
Oklahoma's Patrick Welch reacts on the 18th hole during the final round of the Calusa Cup, Tuesday, April 5, 2022, at Calusa Pines Golf Club in Naples, Fla.Georgia Tech won the tournament as a team with a score of 856 Florida's Fred Biondi and Georgia Tech's Bartley Forrester won the tournament as individuals with a score of 211.College Golf: Calusa Cup final round, April 5, 2022 /
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A closing charge in the final round of the Thunderbird Collegiate Tournament propelled the top-ranked men’s Oklahoma golf team to a program record-tying fifth team win of the season.

The closed out the final day of the 54-hole tournament held annually at the Papagp Golf Club in Phoenix, Arizona, shooting a final-round score of 14-under-par 270 to win by five strokes over second-place Arizona State.

The Sooners began the final round on Saturday trailing Arizona State, playing on its home course, by two strokes. The advantage grew to four midway through the round before OU mounted its final charge.

OU All-Americans Chris Gotterup and Logan McAllister posted birdies on the ninth hole on Saturday, and the Sooner golf train took off from there burning up the back nine of the par-71, 7,317-yard desert course for the come-from-behind team win.

Gotterup fired a six-under-par 65 on Saturday, the second lowest round of the day, for an overall 54-hole score of 11-under 202, tied for fourth place on the individual leaderboard. McAlister also finished in the top 10 with rounds of 69-68-68 for eight-under 205. The two seniors were under par for all three rounds.

Fellow senior Patrick Welch played a key role in the Sooners comeback win in the final round. After shooting 73-76 over the first 36 holes, Welch fired a three-under 68 on Saturday to go along with a two-under 69 by redshirt-freshman teammate Stephen Campbell Jr.

Oklahoma’s five wins this season also include championships at the Maridoe Collegiate Invitational in Carrollton, Texas, in September, the East Lake Cup in October, the Puerto Rico Classic and Southern Highlands Collegiate in Las Vegas, both in February.

The Sooners also have two second-place finishes: the Carmel Cup at Pebble Beach, in the first tournament of the season, and the Colonial Collegiate Invitational in Ft. Worth in early October.

The next competition for the top-ranked Oklahoma golf team will be the Big 12 Stroke Play Championship April 25-27 at Whispering Pines Golf Club in Trinity, Texas, about an hour and a half north of Houston. The Sooner are hoping for a better performance than their third-place finish in the Big 12 Match Play Championship earlier this season.

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