Oklahoma men's golf separated itself from the field on Day 2 of the NCAA Corvallis Regional and extended its lead further in the final round on Wednesday to capture the regional championship and punch the Sooners' ticket to the NCAA Golf Championships next weekend in Carlsbad, Calif.
This marks the 15th consecutive year that the Sooner men have advanced out of the regional round and joined the 29 other teams that will vie for the NCAA national championship. That is the second longest active streak in the country and is one shy of the Oklahoma program record of 16 consecutive championship berths (1981-1996).
Besides Oklahoma, four other teams advanced out of the Corvallis Regional. UCLA was the runner-up, finishing 20 shots back of the Sooners at 14 under par. Top-seeded Arkansas (-11) was third, Purdue (-10) fourth, and San Diego (-9) captured the final spot, defeating Liberty in a playoff.
The 17th-ranked Sooners built an eight-stroke margin after 36 holes at the Trysting Tree Golf Club, fueled by four individual rounds in the 60s by OU team members. In the process, Oklahoma set a new NCAA Regional program record, firing a 36-hole score of 19-under-par 26.
Oklahoma's victory margin ties largest NCAA Regional win in program history
There was no let up in the final round as Oklahoma set another program record in NCAA Regional competition, finishing at 34 under par for 54 holes. The 20-stroke victory margin also equaled the largest victory margin in program program history set in 2015 in the Stanford Regional.
Three Sooners finished inside the top five individually. Senior Jase Summy and sophomore Clark Van Gaalen tied for second at 9 under par and junior Ryder Cowan was fourth at 8 under.
Summy posted three rounds in the 60s and closed with a final round 67, tying former Oklahoma golfer Drew Goodman's program record 96 par-or-better rounds . This is the second straight year Van Gaalen has finished second on the individual leaderboard in regional competition.
Michael Lugiano of Liberty was the individual medalist at the Corvallis Regional at 12 under par for 54 holes and advances to the NCAA Championships along with Oklahoma and the four other teams from that regional. The Corvallis Regional title was OU's third straight regional championship and ninth all-time. The nine regional titles is the third most of any school in the country.
The NCAA Championships will be held May 29-June 3 at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad. Thirty teams qualify for the NCAA Championships: the top five from six different regional locations along with the top individual from each regional not on one of the five qualifying teams.
The 30-team championship field will play 54 holes of stroke play. After 54 holes, the field will be cut down to 15 teams that will compete in another 18 holes of stroke play. The top eight teams after 72 holes will move into match play to compete for the national championship.
Oklahoma has won two NCAA national championships in men's golf (1989 and 2017) and finished runner-up in 2021. The Sooners were eliminated in the quarterfinals during match play last season.
Add us as a preferred source on Google