Cummins' putt gives Oklahoma the edge over Texas in Southern Highlands Collegiate showdown

   While top-ranked Oklahoma State was dusting off a loaded field to capture the Querencia Cabo Collegiate for the third straight year, the Cowboys’ biggest rivals in the Big 12, Oklahoma and Texas, were going at it for the team title against a similarly powerhouse field in the Southern Highlands Collegiate in Las Vegas, Nev.

   And when Quade Cummins, a redshirt junior from Weatherford, Okla., dropped a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18^th hole Tuesday, the Sooners had a one-shot victory over the Longhorns. Oklahoma started the week ranked No. 11 by Golfstat, but the team win at Southern Highlands Golf Club moved them up to No. 4. Texas started the week at No. 8 and stayed there.

   But there’s a long way to go before the Big 12 and, quite possibly, the NCAA Championship is decided.

   Two years ago Texas prevailed by a shot over Oklahoma State in an epic Big 12 Championship in some brutal weather at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan., but it was Oklahoma, which took fifth at Prairie Dunes, that won the national championship at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill.

   Last spring, Oklahoma captured the Big 12 crown at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla. with Oklahoma State and Texas tied for second. Ultimately though, it was Oklahoma State that won the national championship on its home course at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla.

   Cummins’ birdie at the last gave the Sooners a 6-under-par 282 in the final round over the 7,374-yard, par-72 Southern Highlands layout and a 14-under 850 total.

   Oklahoma opened with a 1-under 287 and carded a solid 7-under 281 in the second round that left the Sooners in third place, three shots behind reigning Atlantic Coast Conference champion Georgia Tech and two shots behind Pac-12 power Stanford, heading into Tuesday's final round.

   Texas had struggled in the opening round with a 7-over 295, but moved into contention with an 11-under 277, the low team round of the tournament. The Longhorns, fueled by a routinely spectacular final round of 8-under 64 by Cole Hammer, the freshman phenom from Houston, put together a 9-under 279 in the final round only to come up a shot short of Oklahoma at 13-under 851.

   Stanford somehow came into this tournament ranked 37^th, but its third-place finish moved the Cardinal up to No. 31. Stanford matched par in the final round with a 288 to end up three shots behind Texas at 10-under 854.

   Texas Tech moved up from No. 18 to No. 11 after finishing fourth at 8-under 856, two shots behind Stanford. The Red Raiders had a pair of 4-under 284s after opening up with an even-par 288.

   No. 14 California, up one from No. 15, closed with a 5-under 283 to take fifth at 7-under 857. Georgia Tech backed off in the final round after two strong rounds with a 7-over 295 to finish sixth at 4-under 565, the Yellow Jackets falling from No. 4 to No. 9 in the Golfstat rankings.

   UNLV, behind individual champion Jack Trent, a sophomore from Australia, shared seventh place with TCU at 1-under 863. The Runnin’ Rebels, who moved up in the rankings from No. 38 to No. 33, closed with a 1-over 289 while the Horned Frogs, who moved up from No. 44 to No. 42, finished up with a 1-under 287.

   Rounding out the top 10 were a couple of reigning conference champions as Illinois, the four-time defending Big Ten kingpin, was ninth at 2-over 866 and reigning Pac-12 champion Southern California was 10^th at 8-over 872.

   The Fighting Illini, who moved up two spots from No. 28 to No. 26 in the rankings, carded a final round of 1-over 289. The Trojans, who dropped a spot in the rankings from No. 6 to No. 7, closed with a 1-under 287.

   Cummins led the way for the Sooners, his birdie at the last giving him a 1-under 71 in the final round that left him in seventh place in the individual standings at 5-under 211. Teammate Thomas Johnson, a redshirt senior home boy from Norman, Okla., was another shot behind Cummins in eighth at 4-under 212 as he matched Cummins’ 71 in the final round.

   Patrick Welch, a freshman from Providence, R.I., ended up in the group tied for 19^th at 1-under 215 with a crucial 2-under 70 in the final round. Garrett Reband, a junior from Fort Worth, Texas, finished in the group tied for 24^th at 1-over 217, although his even-par 72 in the final round was a throw-out for the Sooners.

   Riley Casey, a junior from Abilene, Texas, opened with a 78, but his second-round 71 and his final round of 2-under 70 were crucial counters in what turned into a one-shot victory for Oklahoma.

   Hammer, No. 9 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), really got it going last summer, reaching the semifinals of the U.S. Junior Amateur at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J. and the U.S. Amateur at the Pebble Beach Golf Links on northern California’s Monterey Peninsula and winning the Western Amateur at Sunset Ridge Country Club in Northfield, Ill.

   I fully expect Hammer will be one of the players chosen to represent the United States under captain Nathaniel Crosby in the Walker Cup Match that will be held in September at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, England.

   Hammer opened with a so-so 2-over 74 Sunday at Southern Highlands before carding a 4-under 68 in the second round and then firing that sizzling final-round 64 that caught UNLV’s Trent at 10-under 206. Trent opened with a 5-under 67 and added a 4-under 68 before finishing up with a 1-under 71.

   Hammer had a chance to win the title on the first hole of a playoff, but missed a putt. Trent finally nailed down the title on the third hole of the playoff. It also earned Trent a spot in the field for the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in October, a PGA Tour stop at TPC Summerlin.

   Stanford’s Brandon Wu, a senior from New York, N.Y., sandwiched a 4-under 68 in the second round with a pair of 2-under 70s to finish alone in third at 8-under 208, two shots behind the top two.

Another Texas freshman, Parker Coody from Plano, Texas, shared fourth place with California’s Collin Morikawa, a senior from La Canada Flintridge, Calif. and the No. 2 player in the WAGR, at 7-under 209.

   Coody played a big role in Texas’ big second-round move with a sparkling 6-under 66 before finishing up with a 1-under 71.

   Morikawa, who went 4-0 in the United States’ 19-7 victory over Great Britain & Ireland in the last Walker Cup in 2017 at Los Angeles Country Club, rattled off a pair of 3-under 69s after opening up with a 1-under 71.

   Illinois’ Michael Feagles, a junior from Scottsdale, Ariz., zoomed up the leaderboard with a 7-under 65 in the final round to finish alone in sixth at 6-under 210, a shot behind Coody and Morikawa and a shot ahead of Oklahoma’s Cummins.

   Good to see Nate Menon, the 2015 PIAA Class AA champion as a junior at Wyomissing, crack the lineup for Stanford. After opening with a 78, Menon, a sophomore, added a 2-over 74 before finishing up with a 3-over 75 to end up among the group tied for 63^rd at 227.
    Menon passed on the PIAA postseason as a senior in the fall of 2016. Just making the starting lineup at a perennial power like Stanford is no easy feat. It will be interesting to see how Menon does holding on to that spot in the first five.