Oklahoma State edges Oklahoma by one, Texas by two in epic Big 12 Championship at Prairie Dunes

    Figured if I waited long enough to get to the Big 12 Championship, it could almost function as a Walker Cup preview considering four of the 10 members of captain Nathaniel Crosby’s U.S. team finished among the top six, including the champion, Cole Hammer, a junior at Texas from Houston and No. 14 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).

   Crosby couldn’t have asked for a more competitive environment to prepare the four Big 12 guys on his roster to compete against Great Britain & Ireland at Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Fla. than the four rounds they played at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan.

   Oklahoma State, No. 4 in the latest Golfstat rankings, finished with a 9-over-par 1,129 total over the 7,068-yard, par-70 Prairie Dunes layout to capture the title. No. 1 Oklahoma was just a shot behind the Cowboys in second place with a 1,130 total. Hammer and his No. 5 Longhorns were another shot behind Oklahoma in third place with a 1,131 total. Among the three teams, they struck 3,390 shots and were separated by two shots. Two shots. It would seem to be almost statistically impossible.

   You start digging into the numbers and it’s all so impressive. Apparently, the NCAA selection committee was impressed. When the regional bids were announced Wednesday, all three teams were awarded top seeds in their respective regions, Oklahoma State on its home course of Karsten Creek Golf Club, where it completed its most recent national championship run in 2018, Oklahoma in the Albuquerque Regional, which will be contested at the Championship Course at the University of New Mexico, and Texas at the Noblesville Regional, which will be held at The Sagamore Club in in Noblesville, Ind.

   The Big 12 Championship wrapped up April 28^th at Prairie Dunes with Oklahoma State’s Bo Jin, a freshman from China and the runnerup in the 2019 U.S. Junior Amateur at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, making a birdie on the 17^th hole and then adding a par on the 18^th as he completed a final round of 2-under 68 that enabled Oklahoma State to put a nose in front.

   It looks like Prairie Dunes was at its fiercest in the April 26^th double round. Oklahoma State might very well have won the championship when it rebounded from its opening round of 296 with a 2-over 282 in the afternoon that day. Oklahoma would lead their cross-state rivals by a shot after 36 holes as the Sooners added a 6-over 286 to their opening-round 291. Texas matched TCU for the best round of the opening round with a 10-over 290. After a 294 in the second round, the Longhorns trailed Oklahoma by seven shots and Oklahoma State by eight.

   By the end of the April 27^th third round, they were all tied at 16-over 856. Texas got untracked with an 8-under 272 behind a sizzling 5-under 65 by Hammer, Oklahoma State got it in at 2-under 278 and Oklahoma had a 1-under 279.

   Jin’s 68 led the Cowboys to a 7-under 273 in the April 28^th final round to account for their 9-over 1,129 total. Oklahoma’s Quade Cummins, a redshirt senior from Weatherford, Okla. and No. 16 in the WAGR, fired a sparkling 4-under 66 to lead the Sooners to a final round of 6-under 274 and their 10-over 1,130 total. Hammer’s final-round 67, which helped him nail down the individual crown, helped Texas close with a 5-under 275 that left the Longhorns with an 11-over total. Just remarkable.

   I’ve only really scrutinized the college golf scene closely for the last five years, but has there really been a conference championship better than this?

   Give TCU credit, too. After opening with a 290, the Horned Frogs struggled a little in the second round with a 299. After posting a 1-over 281 in the third round, they went out and recorded the best team round of the tournament, a 10-under 270 that left them in fourth place, nine shots behind Texas at 20-over 1,140. TCU will be a dangerous seventh seed in the Tallahassee Regional at Seminole Legacy Golf Club in Tallahassee, Fla.

   No. 22 Texas Tech was another nine shots behind TCU in fifth place in the 10-team field with a 29-over 1,149 total. The Red Raiders were very solid after struggling to an opening-round 301 as they added a 9-over 289 in the afternoon of the opening-day double round, posted a 10-over 290 in the third round and then finished up with a 1-under 279. Texas Tech will join Oklahoma in the Albuquerque Regional as a No. 4 seed.

   Jin led the way for Oklahoma State as his final-round 68 left him a tie for second place in the individual standings with Oklahoma’s Cummins at 3-under 277, a shot behind Hammer. After opening with a 72, Jin fired a 3-under 67 in the second round, easily the best round in the afternoon of the April 26^th double round. He then matched par in the third round with a 70 to get a share of the lead with Hammer and Texas Tech’s Ludvig Abert, a sophomore from Sweden and No. 5 in the WAGR, heading into the final round.

   Austin Eckroat, a junior from Edmond, Okla. and No. 11 in the WAGR, came up huge for the Cowboys with his final round of 5-under 65 that left him alone in fifth place in the individual standings at 2-over 282. Eckroat connects this Oklahoma State team to the one that rolled to the national championship in 2018 and reached the semifinals the following year at The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark. before falling to Texas.

   Eckroat struggled in the opening round of Prairie Dunes with a 76, but was rock solid the rest of the way with a 1-over 71 in the second round and an even-par 70 in the third round.

   Eugenio Chacarra, a sophomore from Spain and No. 32 in the WAGR, and Aman Gupta, a sophomore from Concord, N.C., gave Oklahoma State a third and fourth finisher among the top 10 as both landed among a group of seven players who finished in a tie for 10^th place at 9-over 289.

   Chacarra, who transferred to Oklahoma State after a year at Wake Forest, struggled a little in the April 26^th double round, adding a 74 to his opening-round 75. But he carded a solid 1-over 71 in the third round and contributed a 1-under 69 to the Cowboys’ best team round, the final-round 273.

   Gupta made a run to the semifinals of the U.S. Amateur at the Bandon Dunes Resort in Oregon last summer before a heartbreaking 1-up loss to eventual champion Tyler Strafaci. After an opening-round 78 at Prairie Dunes, Gupta was rock solid, matching par with 70s in the second and third rounds and closing with a 71.

   Rounding out the Oklahoma State lineup was Jonas Baumgartner, a freshman from Germany. He struggled a little in the April 26^th double round, adding a 76 to his opening-round 73. But his 2-under 68 in the third round was huge as the Cowboys were in the midst of their frantic back-and-forth with Oklahoma and Texas. Baumgartner closed with a 73 to finish among the group tied for 16^th place at 10-over 289.

   Hammer had reached No. 1 in the WAGR when he arrived at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, England for the Walker Cup Match in September of 2019. He lost his first two matches there, but rebounded by rolling to a 6 and 5 victory of GB&I veteran Conor Purcell, part of a huge U.S. final-day rally that earned it a 15.5-10.5 victory.

   That was the end of a remarkable run for Hammer that included a tie for third place the last time the Big 12 Championship was contested at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. Hammer, a freshman two springs ago, would lead the Longhorns past Oklahoma in the quarterfinals and Oklahoma State in the semifinals at The Blessings before the youthful team finally ran out of a gas in a loss Stanford in the Final Match.

   Hammer struggled at times during the pandemic-addled 2020, failing to make match play at in the U.S. Amateur at Bandon Dunes. He arrived at a practice session for U.S. Walker Cup team hopefuls in December at the Bay Hill Club & Lodge and Lake Nona Golf & Country Club in Orlando, Fla., at No. 25 in th3e WAGR.

   But Hammer would appear to very much back on track. He matched par in the opening round at Prairie Dunes with a 70, struggled a little with a 74 in the afternoon round of the April 26^th double round.

   Then he put the Hammer down, unleashing that 5-under 65 in the third round and closing with that 3-under 67 for a 4-under 270 that gave him a one-shot victory over Jin and Cummins. You will be seeing the names of the guys he beat on PGA Tour leaderboards for years to come. The Big 12 individual title bumped Hammer up four spots in the WAGR.

   Cummins, who will turn around and team with Hammer for the United States this weekend at Seminole, fired an opening-round salvo in the form of a 3-under 67 at Prairie Dunes. He laid low in the middle two rounds with a pair of 2-over 72s before closing with a rush with his sparkling final-round 66, to share second place with Jin, a shot behind Hammer at 3-under 207.

   Texas Tech’s Aberg added a 72 to his opening-round 71 in the April 26^th double round before surging into a tie for the lead after 54 holes with a 4-under 66 in the third round. He matched par in the final round with a 70 to finish alone in fourth place at 1-under 209.

   Hammer’s fellow Longhorn, Pierceson Coody, a junior from Plano, Texas and No. 2 in the WAGR, headed a group of three players tied for sixth place at 6-over 286, four shots behind Oklahoma State’s Eckroat. Coody added a 73 to his opening-round 71, matched par in the third round with a 70 and finished up with a 72.

   Pierceson Coody rounded out the quartet of U.S. Walker Cup team members among the top six in the Big 12 Championship individual standings, along with Hammer, Cummins and Eckroat.

   Pierceson Coody is one of the twin grandsons of Charles Coody, who celebrated the 50^th anniversary of his 1971 Masters victory last month, on the Texas roster. Brother Parker was part of the large group that finished in a tie for 10^th place at 9-over 289.

   Joining Pierceson Coody at 6-over were Oklahoma’s Logan McAllister, a junior from Oklahoma City, Okla. and No. 39 in the WAGR, and TCU’s Filippo Celli, a freshman from Italy. After struggling to a 76 in the opening round, McAllister carded a 1-under 69 in the afternoon of the April 26^th double round. He added a 73 in the third round before contributing a 2-under 68 to the Sooners’ strong finish. Celli sandwiched a 77 in the second round with a pair of 1-under 69s before closing with a solid 1-over 71.

   Celli’s TCU teammate, Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira, a sophomore from Argentina, was a shot behind the trio tied for sixth place in ninth with a 7-over 287 total. Fernandez de Oliveira added a 73 to his opening-round 71, struggled a little with a 76 in the third round, but finished strong with a 3-under 67.