It’s tough to review the results of the Big 12 Championship,
which wrapped up Wednesday at major-championship worthy Southern Hills Country
Club in Tulsa, Okla., and not believe that a national championship team is
going to emerge from the field.
Last year’s national champion, Oklahoma, No. 3 in the latest
Golfstat rankings, captured the title
by eight shots over No. 1 Oklahoma State and No. 16 Texas, which put up a
spirited defense of the title the Longhorns won a year ago. It was the Sooners’
first Big 12 team title since 2006.
Texas outlasted Oklahoma State in spectacularly bad weather
on the really difficult Prairie Dunes Country Club layout last spring. At the
time I posted that there can be no better preparation for the postseason than
to take on a tough golf course with some challenging conditions. Turned out I
was right. Oklahoma, which finished fifth at Prairie Dunes, showed all kinds of
grit in taking it to the house a few weeks later at a tough Rich Harvest Farms
in mostly lousy weather.
This time the Sooners had the right answers on the
7,084-yard, par-70 Southern Hills layout that has hosted three U.S. Opens and
four PGA Championships, the last of which was the 2007 edition that was won by
that Tiger fella.
After opening with a so-so 14-over 294, Oklahoma ripped off
a 3-under 277 in the back end of Monday’s double-round when the course appeared
to have been at its most vulnerable. The Sooners added a 1-over 281 in Tuesday’s
third round before finishing up with a 7-over 287 in some rainy, chilly weather
for a 19-over 1,139 total.
Four grueling rounds on a tough golf course against some of
the best amateur players in the world. You can’t ask for more out of your
conference championship. And the Big 12 got itself a worthy champion.
The Oklahoma website brags that the Sooners can repeat as
national champions without leaving the state. They captured the title Wednesday
in Tulsa, they’ll play host to an NCAA regional in a couple of weeks and if
they can get through that, they’ll head for Stillwater and Oklahoma State’s
home course of Karsten Creek Golf Club for the NCAA Championship. Of course,
the Cowboys might have something to say about who wins the national
championship on their home course.
Oklahoma led upstart Iowa State, obviously underrated at No.
55, by just two heading into the final round with Oklahoma State and Texas
lurking six shots out of the lead. But neither the Cowboys nor the Longhorns
were able to make a big move, both carding a 9-over 289 to share runnerup
honors at 27-over 1,147.
Oklahoma State couldn’t quite recover from a 15-over 295 in
the second round. And Texas, even with a pretty solid 8-over 288 in the second
round, lost ground to the Sooners’ 3-under 277.
Iowa State fell back in the final round with a 16-over 296,
but still had a solid fourth-place finish at 30-over 1,150. No. 11 Baylor also
struggled in the final round, matching the Cyclones’ 296 to finish fifth at
1,157, seven shots behind Iowa State.
Oklahoma was led by Grant Hirschman, a senior from
Collierville, Tenn. who was one of four players who claimed medalist honors as
the Big 12 didn’t break the logjam at 3-over 283. Hirchschman surged into
contention with a 3-under 67 in the second round and a 2-under 68 in the third
round. He closed with a 3-over 73.
The Sooners had two players among the group of four players
tied for seventh at 6-over 286.
One was Brad Dalke, a junior from Norman, Okla. and the
runnerup in the 2016 U.S. Amateur at Oakland Hills Country Club. The
ever-steady Dalke finished up with a 1-over 71. The other was Quade Cummins, a
redshirt sophomore from Weatherford, Okla. who took advantage of the more
tranquil Round 2 conditions to card a 3-under 67, matching Hirschman for the
low round of the afternoon for the Sooners. Cummins finished up with a 3-over
73.
Blaine Hale, a junior from Dallas, came up big in the final
round with an even-par 70 that left him among the group tied for 14th
at 9-over 289. Rounding out the Oklahoma lineup was Rylee Robertson, a senior from
Gibbon, Neb. who finished in the group tied for 26th at 293 after a
final-round 75 that was his highest round of the week.
All three of the top teams had a player in the foursome that
earned medalist honors.
For Texas it was senior Doug Ghim, whom you might remember
seeing in Butler Cabin earlier this month accepting the award for low amateur
in The Masters right before Patrick Reed slipped on the green jacket. Ghim of
Arlington Heights, Ill. was a game runnerup to Clemson’s Doc Redman in 37 holes
in last summer’s U.S. Amateur and went 4-0 in helping the United States roll to
a 19-7 victory over Great Britain & Ireland in the Walker Cup Match at Los
Angeles Country Club.
Ghim, No. 3 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR),
finished up with a 3-over 73 to get his piece of the top spot at 3-over 283.
Oklahoma State was represented in the top four by Kristoffer
Ventura, a senior from Norway who became the 10th Cowboy to win a
Big 12 individual title, joining the likes of Charles Howell III, Hunter Mahan
and Rickie Fowler. Ventura had the best final-round score of the four
co-medalists, a 1-under 69.
Crashing the party as the fourth co-medalist was Kansas
State’s Jeremy Gandon, a junior from France who finished up with a 2-over 72.
Gandon is the first Kansas State player to claim medalist honors in a
conference championship since the Wildcats were playing in the Big Seven in 19
and 51.
The top four were chased home by Texas’ Scottie Scheffler, a
senior from Dallas, and Oklahoma State’s Matthew Wolff, a freshman from Agoura
Hills, Calif., both of whom finished two shots behind the co-medalists at
5-over 285.
Scheffler was also a teammate of Ghim’s on the winning U.S.
side in the Walker Cup Match. And oh yeah, he was the low amateur in last
summer’s U.S. Open at Erin Hills. And has any college team ever had the
reigning low amateurs from both the Open and The Masters on its roster at the
same time? Just wondering. Ghim and Scheffler finished tied for second in
leading the Longhorns to the title a year ago at Prairie Dunes.
Scheffler, who was the Big 12 individual champion as a
freshman at Southern Hills in 2015, finished strong with a 1-under 69 in
Tuesday’s third round and even-par 70 in Wednesday’s final round.
The Cowboys’ Wolff opened with a 6-over 76, but bounced back
with a 1-under 69 in the second round Monday afternoon before finishing up with
a pair of even-par 70s.
Oklahoma State’s Viktor Hovland, a sophomore from Norway and
No. 7 in the WAGR, joined Dalke and Cummins in the group tied for seventh at
6-over 286. A brilliant 4-under 66 in Monday afternoon’s second round sent
Hovland to the top of the leaderboard at 1-under 139. He finished up with
respective rounds of 73 and 74 Tuesday and Wednesday.
Rounding out the foursome at 6-over 286 was Iowa State’s Sam
Vincent, a sophomore from New Zealand. Vincent capped a solid week with a final
round of 3-over 73.
There was a familiar name in the Kansas State lineup as
junior Roland Massimino, who led New Hope to the 2014 PIAA Class AA
championship as a senior, finished in the group tied for 30th at
15-over 295. Massimino had three straight 3-over 73s before finishing up with a
76.
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