Oklahoma golf: Sooners lead after opening day of NCAA Regional
By Chip Rouse
The No. 1 seed men’s Oklahoma golf team sits in the lead after the opening 18 holes of the Norman Regional as part of the 2022 NCAA Men’s Golf Championship.
Oklahoma leads No. 24 South Carolina by one stroke after compiling a team score of 11-under-par 277 on Monday at the Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club. OU is one of six regional sites hosting the NCAA Championship this year.
The Sooner men were a unanimous No. 1 selection after collecting six tournament wins and a couple of second-place finishes in 2021-22 tournament competition, including the Big 12 Championship last month.
OU, last year’s NCAA Division I runner-up. got off to a strong start right out of the gate with three Sooners recording birdies on the opening hole.
Oklahoma led by as many as nine strokes in the opening round before teams began to catch up on the back nine. Led by freshman Drew Goodman’s six-under-par 30 on the front side, the Sooners played about as well as they could have over the opening nine holes, according to head coach Ryan Hybl. OU shot 14 under par on the front side but struggled somewhat on the back side.
Goodman, a hometown boy from Norman, finished tied for third place after the first round with an opening day 67 (-5). Patrick Welch, one of three seniors on the OU roster this season shot a three-under 69, good for a fifth-place tie on the leaderboard, and Rutgers transfer Chris Gotterup fired a score of two-under 70, which is tied for 11th.
No. 18 Auburn and Utah are tied for third place after the first 18 holes in the Norman Regional, both at 280 (-8). No. 7 Texas is fifth at 282 (-6).
After 54 holes, the top five teams in the Norman Regional as well as the top five in each of the five other regionals will advance to the NCAA Championship at the Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.