Pepperdine will get its shot for a national title against Oklahoma in the Final Match at Grayhawk

    Pepperdine was ranked No. 1 by Golfstat when the 2019-2020 season came to a sudden end a little more than a year ago.

   The Waves would be losing Fred Haskins Award winner Sahith Theegala, who is well on his way to the PGA Tour these days. But it had to gnaw at the Waves a little that maybe they would never have a better chance to win an NCAA Championship then they did the year the coronavirus pandemic shut down college golf.

   Turns out Pepperdine will have a very good chance to win the 2020-’21 NCAA crown because the Waves, ranked ninth, capped the biggest day in the history of the program with a 4-1 victory over Big 12 champion Oklahoma State, ranked No. 3, in the NCAA semifinals Tuesday at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.

   Give Pepperdine credit. The Waves could have lamented their lost opportunity from the spring of 2020, but they kept moving forward. Pepperdine played a limited schedule in the fall when many college programs were shut down with the pandemic still raging out of control.

   Pepperdine’s No.-1 ranking when college golf shut down last spring earned it an invitation to the East Lake Cup at Atlanta’s East Lake Golf Club and the Waves proved they were still a formidable bunch with a 4-1 victory over another Big 12 power in Oklahoma.

   Seven months later, those same two teams will meet for the national title as the top-ranked Sooners joined Pepperdine in the Final Match with a hard-fought 3-2 victory over No. 10 Arizona State in the other semifinal.

   Pepperdine began college golf’s longest day, the quarterfinal/semifinal day at the NCAA Championship, by taking out No. 2 Florida State, the Atlantic Coast Conference runnerup, with a 3.5-1.5 decision.

   Oklahoma State had looked very strong in its 4-1 victory over Southeastern Conference champion Vanderbilt in Tuesday morning’s quarterfinals.

   But when Joe Highsmith, a junior from Lakewood, Wash. and No. 66 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), lagged his birdie putt on the 18^th hole to tap-in range to complete a 1-up victory over the Cowboys’ Aman Gupta, a sophomore from Concord, N.C. and No. 98 in the WAGR, Pepperdine, making its first appearance in match play at the NCAA Championship, had reached the Final Match.

   But the biggest shot of the day for Pepperdine was authored by Clay Feagler, a redshirt senior from Laguna Niguel, Calif. who was battling Oklahoma State’s most experienced player, junior Austin Eckroat, the No. 12 player in the WAGR out of Edmond, Okla.

   Eckroat was just three weeks removed from helping the United States retain the Walker Cup in a victory over Great Britain & Ireland at Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Fla. The guy’s got some serious match-play chops and he had a 2-up lead on Feagler when they arrived on the tee at the 187-yard, par-3 eighth hole.

   Feagler promptly drew an 8-iron onto the green and into the hole for an ace. Feagler went on to win the next four hole as well and the stunned Eckroat was suddenly 3-down with six holes to play. Feagler would win the match 2 and 1.

   Pepperdine’s other full point came from Dylan Menante, a sophomore from Carlsbad, Calif. and No. 64 in the WAGR who earned a 3 and 2 decision over Brian Stark, a freshman from Kingsburg, Calif.

   The other two matches were tied when they were halted after Highsmith clinched the victory for the Waves.

   Pepperdine’s Joey Vrzich, a senior from El Cajon, Calif. and No. 40 in the WAGR, battled Eugenio Chacarra, a sophomore from Spain and No. 29 in the WAGR to a draw, and the Waves’ William Mouw, a sophomore from Chino, Calif. and No. 35 in the WAGR, deadlocked with Bo Jin, a freshman from China and No. 56 in the WAGR.

   Mouw had been a teammate of Eckroat’s on the winning U.S. side in the Walker Cup at Seminole. Jin had led the chase for the individual NCAA crown over the 7,289-yard, par-70 Grayhawk layout through three rounds and settled for a runnerup finish with a 6-under 274 total.

   Jonathan Brightwell, a redshirt senior from Charlotte, N.C. and No. 42 in the WAGR, has been Oklahoma’s best player throughout the postseason. He finished in a tie for second place in the individual standings in the Albuquerque Regional, dragging the Sooners across the finish line as they came on strong to punch their ticket to Grayhawk with a fourth-place finish.

   Brightwell got Oklahoma going with a 1-up victory over Arizona State’s David Puig, a sophomore from Spain and No. 17 in the WAGR.

   The Sun Devils weren’t going to go quietly and Chun An Yu, a fifth-year player from Taiwan and No.  15 in the WAGR, rolled to a 5 and 4 victory over Garett Reband, a redshirt senior from Fort Worth, Texas and No. 7 in the WAGR, and Ryggs Johnston, a sophomore from Libby, Mont. and No. 91 in the WAGR, earned another full point for Arizona State with a 3 and 2 victory over Ben Lorenz, a freshman from Peoria, Ill.

   Reband replaced Patrick Welch, a senior from Aliso Viejo, Calif. and No. 84 in the WAGR, in the lineup after Welch suffered an 8 and 6 shellacking at the hands of Adrien Dumont de Chassart, a junior from Belgium, in the Sooners’ 3-2 quarterfinal victory over Illinois.

   But Oklahoma sealed the deal as Logan McAllister, a junior from Oklahoma City, Okla. and No. 38 in the WAGR, claimed a 4 and 3 victory over Mason Anderson, a senior from Chandler, Ariz., and a Sooners veteran, Quade Cummins, a redshirt senior from Weatherford, Okla. and No. 16 in the WAGR, pulled out a 2 and 1 victory over Cameron Sisk, a junior from San Diego and No. 82 in the WAGR.

   Highsmith, Feagler and Vrzich each earned a full point in Pepperdine’s quarterfinal victory over Florida State.

   Highsmith earned a 2 and 1 victory over Cole Anderson, a redshirt sophomore from Camden, Maine, Feagler rolled to a 6 and 4 decision over Vincent Norrman, a graduate student from Sweden and No. 11 in the WAGR, and Vrzich cruised to a 4 and 3 win over Brett Roberts, the Seminoles’ standout freshman from Coral Springs, Fla.

   Mouw drew a tough assignment against his U.S. Walker Cup teammate, John Pak, a senior from Scotch Plains, N.J. and No. 4 in the WAGR, and Pak pulled out a 1-up victory.

   With the outcome of the match determined, Menante’s battle with Frederik Kjettrup, a freshman from Denmark, was called a draw.

   Oklahoma State has become a regular in the NCAA Championship semifinals and the Cowboys got there again as Stark, Chacarra, Eckroat and Jin each earned a full point in their quarterfinal victory over Vanderbilt.

   Stark knocked off Cole Sherwood, a freshman from Austin, Texas, 3 and 1, Chacarra edged Michael Shears, a junior from Franklin, Tenn., 2 and 1, Eckroat claimed a 3 and 2 victory over William Moll, a sophomore from Houston, and Jin pulled out a 1-up win over sophomore Matthew Riedel, another Houstonian.

   The Commodores got their lone point from junior Reid Davenport, another Austin, Texas guy who edge Gupta, 1-up.

   Oklahoma’s three best players delivered in its victory over No. 11 Illinois as Brightwell, McAllister, Cummins each claimed a full point.

   Brightwell knocked off Fighting Illini veteran Giovanni Tadiotto, a graduate student from Belgium, 3 and 1, McAllister earned a 2 and 1 verdict over Jerry Ji, a sophomore from the Netherlands, and Cummins, another member of the winning U.S. Walker Cup team at Seminole, downed Tommy Kuhl, a junior from Morton, Ill., 2 and 1.

   In addition to Dumont de Chassart’s romp over Oklahoma’s Welch, Illinois got another full point from another of its veteran players, Michael Feagles, a graduate student from Scottsdale, Ariz. and No. 89 in the WAGR who cruised to a 4 and 3 victory over Lorenz. Feagles, playing closed to his Scottsdale roots, finished fourth in stroke play with a 4-under 276 total.

   Arizona State, which had surged to the top seed in the match-play bracket in the final round of 72 holes of stroke play Monday, reached the semifinals with a 3.5-1.5 victory over another ACC entry, No. 6 North Carolina.

   The Sun Devils got a full point each from Yu, Johnston and Anderson against the Tar Heels.

   Yu earned a 2 and 1 decision over Austin Hitt, a senior from Longwood, Fla., Johnston, who had finished third in the 72 holes of stroke play with a 5-under 275 total, rolled to a 4 and 3 victory over Ryan Burnett, a junior from Lafayette, Calif., and Anderson was also a 4 and 3 winner over Ryan Gerard, a junior from Raleigh, N.C.

   Arizona State’s Sisk battled Austin Greaser, a sophomore from Vandalia, Ohio, to a draw. The Tar Heels got a full point from ACC individual champion Peter Fountain, a freshman from Raleigh, N.C. and No. 52 in the WAGR who pulled out a 2 and 1 victory over Puig.

   The depth of talent that has been on display since Friday at Grayhawk has been really impressive. It was a considerable achievement for the eight teams that played Tuesday just to make it to the match-play bracket. It is why the NCAA Championship was so missed a year ago. It’s been good to have it back.