It was a pretty memorable Memorial Day Monday for the
Oklahoma State program at The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark. The
real work of trying to repeat as the national champion begins Tuesday.
It was pretty much of a victory lap for the Cowboys, the Big
12 champions and No. 1 in the latest Golfstat
rankings. Matthew Wolff, a sophomore from Agoura Hills, Calif. and the No. 4
player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), led the way for Oklahoma State
by cruising to the individual championship by five shots.
While teammate Viktor Hovland, a junior from Norway, might
be No. 1 in the WAGR, might be the reigning U.S. Amateur champion and might
have a silver medal as the low amateur in last month’s Masters, but Wolff
capped one of the great individual college seasons with his performance at The
Blessings.
Wolff fired a 3-under-par 69 over the 7,550-yard, par-72
Blessings layout for a 10-under 278 total that was five shots better than
runnerup Steven Fisk, a senior at Georgia Southern from Stockbridge, Ga. and
No. 24 in the WAGR.
It was the sixth tournament victory of the wraparound
2018-’19 season for Wolff, who also played the weekend in the Waste Management
Phoenix Open after making the cut in his PGA Tour debut in February.
Wolff’s individual excellence just highlighted Oklahoma
State’s domination of the 72 holes of qualifying for the main event, three
rounds of match play that will determine the national champion.
For the fourth straight day, Oklahoma State had the low team
round of the day, this time a 4-under 284. It gave the Cowboys a 16-under 1,136
total. Southeastern Conference power Vanderbilt, ranked fourth, was a distant
second, the Commodores finishing up with a solid 3-under 285 for a 15-over
1,167 total that was 31 shots behind Oklahoma State.
The only real drama of the day came in the race for the
eighth and final spot in match play and for the right to take on the powerful
Cowboys in Tuesday morning’s quarterfinals.
No. 13 Clemson out of the Atlantic Coast Conference and No.
53 SMU out of the American Athletic Conference, traded the eighth spot all day
and ultimately both landed on 44-over 1,196 and tied for eighth. Pretty amazing
that two teams can take nearly 1,200 shots each and finish tied, but that’s how
it fell. The Tigers posted a final round of 16-over 304 while the Mustangs
needed a 15-over 303 to catch Clemson.
A young, but talented SMU team then got four pars and one
bogey to Clemson’s two pars and three bogeys on holes one, 15, 16, 17 and 18,
giving the Mustangs the spot in match play. Pretty nice effort by an AAC team
to be one of the last eight standing for match play at the NCAA Championship.
Looks like there’s going to be a pretty juicy match between
individual champion Wolff and SMU’s Noah Goodwin, a sophomore from Corinth,
Texas. It’s a rematch of the 2017 U.S. Junior Amateur final at Flint Hills
National Golf Club in Andover, Kan. in which Goodwin rallied for a 1-up
victory.
The only team leaving The Blessings more frustrated than
Clemson was No. 12 California, which carded a final round of 10-over 298 to
come up a shot short of joining the playoff with a 45-over 1,197 total.
The ACC will be represented in match play by No. 3 Wake
Forest, which carded a 3-over 291 to finish third at 20-over 1,172, five shots
behind Vanderbilt.
Two of Oklahoma State’s Big 12 rivals, No. 5 Texas and No. 6
Oklahoma, finished tied for fourth at 28-over 1,180, eight shots behind Wake
Forest. The Longhorns closed with a 15-over 303 while the Sooners posted a
12-over 300.
That means those two ancient rivals will tee it up in the
quarterfinals Tuesday morning. Pretty sure if Oklahoma State gets by SMU, the
Cowboys would get the winner of Texas and Oklahoma. Sounds like a pretty interesting
day for followers of Big 12 golf, no matter how it shakes out.
Pac-12 champion Stanford, ranked 10th, was
another nine shots behind Texas and Oklahoma in sixth place at 37-over 1,189
after struggling to a final-round 312. The Cardinal will get Wake Forest in the
quarterfinals.
It will be an all-SEC matchup in the fourth quarterfinal as
No. 17 Texas A&M finished up with a 20-over 308 to end up in seventh place at
40-over 1,192, three shots behind Stanford. That earned the Aggies a meeting
with Vanderbilt Tuesday morning.
Backing up Wolff for Oklahoma State were Zach Bauchou, a
senior from Forest, Va. and No. 19 in the WAGR, and Austin Eckroat, a sophomore
from Edmond, Okla. and No. 45 in the WAGR, both of whom finished among a trio
of players tied for eighth in the individual standings at 1-over 289.
Bauchou closed with a 3-over 75 while Eckroat, who was in
second place, just two shots behind Wolff after three rounds, struggled to a 78
in the final round, a score the Cowboys were able to throw out.
Hovland finished up with a solid 1-under 71 to join the
group tied for 15th at 4-over 292. Sharing Oklahoma State medalist
honors for the day was Hayden Wood, a senior from Edmond, Okla. who matched
Wolff’s 3-under 69. Wood’s strong finish left him in the group tied for 30th
at 9-over 297.
Wolff made back-to-back birdies at the fifth and sixth holes
to quickly get it to 9-under before giving those two shots back with
back-to-back bogeys at the eighth and ninth holes. But he closed strong with
birdies at the 10th, 15th and 17th holes on
the incoming nine to finish at 10-under.
Fisk closed with a solid 1-under 71 for an impressive
runnerup finish at 5-under 283. Arizona State’s Chun An Yu, a junior from
Taiwan, matched par in the final round with a 72 to finish alone in third place
at 3-under 285.
Southern California’s Justin Suh, a senior from San Jose,
Calif. and No. 2 in the WAGR, closed out his brilliant college career by
matching par with a 72 that left him in a tie for fourth with Wake Forest’s Lee
Detmer, a senior from Washington, at 2-under 286. Detmer closed strongly with a
3-under 69.
It was the end of another brilliant college career for Suh’s
playing partner and Pac-12 rival Collin Morikawa, a senior at California from
La Canada Flintridge, Calif. and No. 3 in the WAGR. Morikawa posted a 1-over 73
to share sixth place with another Pac-12 rival, Isaiah Salinda, a senior at
Stanford from South San Francisco, Calif. and No. 14 in the WAGR, at even-par
288. Salinda finished up with a 2-over 74.
Sharing eighth place with Oklahoma State’s Bauchou and
Eckroat at 1-over 289 was Georgia’s Trent Phillips, a freshman from Inman, S.C.
and No. 46 in the WAGR who closed with one of the best rounds of the day, a 4-under 68.
Give The Blessings layout a little credit, too. It’s a tough
golf course, but the top five finishers in the team standings are Nos. 1, 4, 3,
5 and 6 in the Golfstat rankings and
eight of the top-10 finishers in the individual standings are in the top 50 in
the WAGR. A good golf course brings out the best from the best and that’s
exactly what happened the last four days.
Let the matches begin. If you like your drama live, the
quarterfinals and semifinals will be aired on The Golf Channel Tuesday.
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