Oklahoma golf: Sooner men win NCAA Rancho Santa Fe Regional
By Chip Rouse
The Oklahoma men's golf team won the NCAA Rancho Santa Fe Regional on Wednesday to advance to the NCAA Championships for the 13th consecutive season.
OU came from five shots down after 36 holes at the par 70 The Farms Golf Club with a final-round best team score of 11 under par 269 to win by six strokes over second-place California. The Sooners final 54-hole score was three-under 837. Oklahoma was the only school in the field to shoot under par over the three rounds.
Cal finished in second place (+3, 843), Oklahoma State and West Virginia tied for third (+5, 845), and North Florida was fifth (+7, 850). The top five teams in the regional plus the individual champion not on one of the top five teams moves on to the NCAA Championship.
The Sooners also produced the individual champion in the 54-hole regional. Senior All-American Ben Lorenz shot 69-69 and 64 in the final round for a score of 8-under 202. Junior Drew Goodman tied for ninth place overall with a score of 211 (+1), and true freshman Ryder Cowan tied for 11th at 212 (+2).
"We've been waiting all year for a round like we had today (in the regional final)"
- OU head coach Ryan Hybl
The top two seeds in the Rancho Santa Fe Regional, No. 1 Arizona State and No. 2 Washington, finished sixth and eighth, respectively, and failed to make the cut.
The Sooners' 13 consecutive NCAA Championship appearances is the second-longest active streak in the country.
The NCAA Championships will be held May 24-29 at the Omni La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, California. The field consists of 30 teams, including the Sooners, who will play 54 holes of stroke play. After 54 holes, the field will be cut in half with the top 15 teams advancing to play one more round of stroke play, The field will then be reduced to eight teams that will compete in match play over the final two days.
Oklahoma won national championships in men's golf in 1989 and 2017 and finished as runner-up in 2021.