With Austin Eckroat, a senior from Edmond, Okla. and the No.
45 player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), taking the individual lead,
Oklahoma State, No. 1 in the latest Golfstat
rankings, maintained its hold on the top spot Saturday after two rounds of
stroke play in the NCAA Championship at The Blessings Golf Club in
Fayetteville, Ark.
If anybody thought the Big 12 champion Cowboys, coming off
an impressive win in the Louisville Regional, were going to have a letdown and
struggle to reach match play at The Blessings, think again.
Eckroat carded a second straight 3-under-par 69 over the
7,550-yard, par-72 Blessings layout to grab a one-shot lead over a pair of
pursuers, one of whom is his teammate, Matthew Wolff, a sophomore from Agoura
Hills, Calif. and No. 4 in the WAGR, in the individual standings with a 6-under
138 total.
Defending champion Oklahoma State is gunning for the 12th
NCAA title in the program’s distinguished history, but the Cowboys have never
gone back-to-back.
Eckroat and Wolff led Oklahoma State to a sparkling 12-under
276 team total Saturday. Combined with their opening round of 2-over 290, it
left the Cowboys with a 10-under 566 total. They are the only team under par
through two rounds.
The field of 30 teams will be cut in half following Sunday’s
third round. The top eight teams at the end of Monday’s final round will
advance to match play with the quarterfinals getting under way Tuesday morning.
It is certainly starting to look like Oklahoma State is going to be one of
those eight teams in match play.
Pac-12 champion Stanford, ranked 10th and coming
off a regional title on its home course in the Stanford Regional, added a
1-under 287 to its opening-round 291 and was alone in second place at 2-over
578, 12 shots behind Oklahoma State.
It’s another five shots back to No. 17 Texas A&M, the
winner of the Pullman Regional, in third place at 7-over 583. The Aggies, out
of the Southeastern Conference, matched Stanford’s 1-under 287 after opening
with a 296.
Texas A&M’s SEC rival, No. 11 Auburn, was three shots
behind the Aggies in fourth place at 10-over 586. The Tigers, who lost to
Oklahoma State on its home course in the NCAA semifinals a year ago at the
Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla., added a 6-over 294 to their
opening-round 292.
A couple of Oklahoma State’s Big 12 rivals, No. 5 Texas,
coming off a victory on its home course in the Austin Regional, and No. 6
Oklahoma, the 2017 national champion at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove,
Ill., accounted for the next two spots in the team standings.
The Longhorns shaved eight shots off their opening-round 298
with a 2-over 290 that left them in fifth place at 12-over 588, two shots
behind Auburn. The Sooners bounced back from a disappointing opening round of
305 with a 1-under 287 to land in sixth place at 16-over 592, four shots behind
Texas.
Three teams – No. 3 Wake Forest out of the Atlantic Coast
Conference, No. 42 Ohio State out of the Big Ten and another Pac-12 entry, No.
12 California – were tied for seventh at 17-over 593, just a shot behind
Oklahoma.
The Demon Deacons added a 9-over 297 to their opening-round
296. The upstart Buckeyes, who struggled to a seventh-place finish in the Big
Ten Championship a month ago at the Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Wissahickon
Course, added an 8-over 296 to their opening-round 297. After opening with a
solid 4-over 292, the Cal Bears fell back with a 301 Saturday.
Rounding out the top 10 was Wake Forest’s ACC rival, No. 13
Clemson, alone in 10th place at 18-over 594. The Tigers knocked 10
shots off their opening-round 302 with a solid 4-over 292.
Wolff surged into contention for the individual title with
the best round of the tournament, a sparkling 6-under 66 that left him in a tie
for second with Cal’s Collin Morikawa, a senior from La Canada Flintridge,
Calif. and No. 3 in the WAGR, at 5-under 139.
Backing up Eckroat and Wolff for the Cowboys was Zach
Bauchou, a senior from Forest, Va. and No. 19 in the WAGR who landed in a group
of seven players tied for ninth at even-par 144. Bauchou carded a 1-under 71
after opening with a 73.
Oklahoma State got a fourth sub-par round from Viktor
Hovland, a junior from Norway and No. 1 in the WAGR. Hovland, the reigning U.S.
Amateur champion and the low amateur in last month’s Masters, added a 2-under
70 to his opening-round 75 to join the group tied for 16th place at
1-over 145.
Rounding out the Oklahoma State lineup was Hayden Wood, a
senior from Edmond, Okla. who added a 5-over 77 to his opening-round 78 and was
in the group tied for 55th at 11-over 155.
Cal’s Morikawa, one of the heroes of the United States’ 19-7
victory over the Great Britain & Ireland side in the 2017 Walker Cup Match
at Los Angeles Country Club, added an even-par 72 to his opening-round 67 to
get a piece of second place along with Oklahoma State’s Wolff at 5-under.
Stanford’s Isaiah Salinda, a senior from South San
Francisco, Calif. and No. 14 in the WAGR, shared fourth place with Auburn’s
Jacob Solomon, a senior from Dublin, Calif., and Utah’s Kyler Dunkle, a senior
from Larkspur, Colo., at 4-under 140.
Salinda carded a second consecutive 2-under 70, Solomon posted
a solid 3-under 69 after opening with a 71 and Dunkle added a 1-under 71 to his
opening-round 69.
Salinda’s teammate, Henry Shimp, a junior from Charlotte,
N.C., fired the low round of the day for the Cardinal, a 3-under 69, and was
alone in seventh place at 2-under 142. Shimp had opened with a 1-over 73.
Arizona State’s Chun An Yu, a junior from Taiwan, was a shot
behind Shimp in eighth place at 1-under 143 after adding a 2-over 74 to his
opening-round 69. An Yu had shared second place with Eckroat and Dunkle
following the opening round, two shots behind opening-round leader Morikawa.
Among the group sharing ninth place with Oklahoma State’s
Bauchou at even-par 144 were two other members of the WAGR top 50, No. 24
Steven Fisk, a senior at Georgia Southern from Stockbridge, Ga., and No. 46
Trent Phillips, a freshman at Georgia from Inman, S.C.
Fisk fired a 4-under 68 after opening with a 76 while
Phillips, the younger of the Bulldogs’ Phillips brothers, added a 1-under 71 to
his opening-round 73.
Rounding out logjam at 144 were Oklahoma’s Patrick Welch, a
freshman from Providence, R.I., Texas A&M’s Brandon Smith, a junior from
Frisco, Texas, UNLV’s Harry Hall, a senior from England, and Texas’ Parker
Coody, a freshman from Plano, Texas.
Welch carded a solid 3-under 69 after opening with a 75.
Smith improved four shots from his opening-round 74 with a 2-under 70. Hall and
Coody each posted a second consecutive even-par 72.
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