Vanderbilt the top seed in match play and the Commodores' Sargent wins individual NCAA crown in a playoff at Grayhawk

    It was indicative of the kind of balance you’ve seen throughout Division I men’s college golf throughout the wraparound 2021-2022 season.

   Three teams, Southeastern Conference champion Vanderbilt, No. 3 in the latest Golfstat rankings, Big 12 champion Oklahoma, the top-ranked team in college golf, and Atlantic Coast Conference representative North Carolina, ranked fifth, finished in a three-way tie for first place in the team competition after four long days in the desert at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.

   None of the top three finishers when the dust settled on a Memorial Day Monday played particularly well in the final round by their standards.

   Vanderbilt capped a steady weekend with a 9-over-par 289 over the 7,289-yard, par-70 Grayhawk layout. Oklahoma carried a four-shot lead on the field into the final round before closing with a 15-over 295. North Carolina moved up the leaderboard from fourth place with a final round of 5-over 285. They all landed on 14-over 1,134 total.

   The tiebreaker was lowest cumulative score among the players whose scores were dropped over the weekend – even if you think your score won’t count, it still might -- and Vanderbilt was awarded the top seed in the eight-team match-play bracket and will take on No. 8 Texas Tech, the fourth Big 12 team among the final eight, when the quarterfinals get under way Tuesday morning.

   Oklahoma ended up as the second seed and gets No. 4 Arizona State, a Pac-12 entry playing a few miles from its campus. North Carolina will face defending national champion and sixth-ranked Pepperdine, the West Coast Conference champion.

   Probably the juiciest quarterfinal matchup will pit ancient Big 12 rivals Texas, ranked seventh, and No. 2 Oklahoma State in a rematch of a 2019 semifinal in which the Longhorns stunned the Cowboys, who were trying to repeat as the national champion.

   The battle for the individual NCAA champion was just as tight as Vanderbilt’s Gordon Sargent, a freshman from Birmingham, Ala. and No. 14 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), survived a four-man playoff with a birdie on the first hole, the par-4 18^th at Grayhawk, to become the first freshman to win the individual title since Southern California’s Jamie Lovemark in 2007.

   Oklahoma’s Chris Gotterup, a redshirt senior from Little Silver, N.J. and No. 27 in the WAGR, three-putted the 18^th hole in regulation that cost him a spot in the playoff and also cost the Sooners the top seed in the match-play bracket.

   Sargent had taken a one-shot over Gotterup into the final round, but struggled a little over a tough Grayhawk layout, closing with a 4-over 74 that left him with an even-par 280 total.

   Texas senior Parker Coody, one of the twin grandsons of 1971 Masters champion Charlie Coody from Plano, Texas on the Longhorns’ roster, North Carolina’s Ryan Burnett, a senior from Lafayette, Calif., and Oklahoma State’s Eugenio Chacarra, a senior from Spain and No. 4 in the WAGR, joined Sargent at even-par.

   Coody and Barnett each matched par in the final round while Chacarra finished up with a 2-over 72.

   Parker Coody led Texas to the low team round of the day, a 3-under 277, as the Longhorns finished in fourth place in the team standings, just three shots out of the logjam at the top of the leaderboard at 17-over 1,137.

   Parker Coody, twin brother Pierceson, No. 3 in the WAGR and Cole Hammer, a senior from Houston and No. 13 in the WAGR, were freshmen on that 2019 team that knocked off Oklahoma State in the semifinals before falling to Stanford in the Final Match at The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark.

   Oklahoma State struggled in Monday’s final round, closing with an 18-over 298 to finish four shots behind Texas in fifth place with a 21-over 1,141 total. A very, very good team is not going to the semifinals when the outcome of the Texas-Oklahoma State quarterfinal goes into the books.

   Pepperdine struggled a little in the final round with a 13-over 293 that left the Waves in sixth place, five shots behind Oklahoma State with a 26-over 1,146 total. Pepperdine was very good in match play at Grayhawk a year ago and the Waves are confident they’ll be tough in match play at Grayhawk again this spring.

   Arizona State finished up with a solid 9-over 289 and was two shots Pepperdine in seventh place with a 28-over 1,148 total.

   Texas Tech had the day’s second-best team score, a 4-over 284, to climb over Arkansas and grab the final ticket into the match-play bracket with a 33-over 1,153 total.

   With the No. 8 Red Raiders getting in, it meant that the top eight teams in the Golfstat rankings comprised the match-play bracket. It hasn’t happened before and probably won’t again, but these were probably the eight best teams all along in the final weeks leading up to the NCAA Championship. And, guess what, they grinded better than all the other teams as well.

   Backing up Sargent for Vanderbilt were Cole Sherwood, a sophomore from Austin, Texas and No. 45 in the WAGR, and William Moll, a junior from Houston, both of whom finished among the group tied for 11^th place at 5-over 285. Sherwood closed with a 3-over 73 while Moll posted a critical 1-over 71.

   Harrison Ott, a fifth-year player from Brookfield, Wis., closed with a solid 2-over 72 to finish in the group tied for 40^th place with a 291 total.

   Rounding out the Vanderbilt lineup was senior Reid Davenport, like Sherwood an Austin guy and No. 41 in the WAGR, as he shared low-Commodore honors for the day with Moll with a 1-over 71 that left him in the group tied for 47^th place with a 293 total.

   Backing up Gotterup for Oklahoma was Patrick Welch, a senior from Aliso Viejo, Calif. and No. 18 in the WAGR who struggled to a 77 in Monday’s final round and finished in the group tied for 15^th place with a 6-over 286. Welch was one of the few players over the weekend who solved Grayhawk for at least one round as he unleashed a seven-birdie, no-bogey 63 in Sunday’s third round.

   Drew Goodman, a freshman home boy from Norman, Okla., was so solid all weekend as he closed with a 3-over 73 that left him in the group tied for 20^th place with a 7-over 287 total. Logan McAllister, a steady senior from Oklahoma City, Okla. and No. 11 in the WAGR, closed with a 74 to finish in the group tied for 25^th place with an 8-over 288 total.

   Oklahoma head coach Ryan Hybl went to Stephen Campbell Jr., a redshirt freshman from Richmond, Texas, off the bench for the final two rounds and Campbell contributed a pair of counters, a 2-over 72 in Sunday’s third round and a 4-over 74 in Monday’s final round.

   David Ford, a freshman from Peachtree Corners, Ga. and No. 38 in the WAGR, gave North Carolina a second finisher among the top five as he was part of a foursome of players who finished in a tie for fifth place, just a shot behind his teammate Burnett and the three other players involved in the four-man playoff for the title at 1-over 281. Ford showed the poise of a veteran all weekend, closing with a 1-over 71.

   Austin Greaser, a junior from Vandalia, Ohio and No. 20 in the WAGR, and Ryan Gerard, a senior from Raleigh, N.C. and No. 91 in the WAGR, backed up the Tar Heels’ top two as they finished in the group tied for 25^th place at 8-over 288.

   Greaser closed with one of the best individual rounds of the day, a 1-under 69. Think the U.S. Amateur runnerup at Oakmont Country Club last summer might be a tough out in match play? Yeah, me too. Gerard finished up with a 75.

   Rounding out the North Carolina lineup was Peter Fountain, a sophomore from Raleigh, N.C. who closed with a 75 to finish in the group tied for 71^st place with a 303 total.

   Joining Oklahoma’s Gotterup and North Carolina’s Ford in the quartet tied for fifth place, a shot out of the playoff for the individual title were Arizona State’s Cameron Sisk, a senior from San Diego and No. 40 in the WAGR, and Pepperdine’s William Mouw, a junior from Chino, Calif. and No. 20 in the WAGR.

   Both matched par in the final round with a 70, in Mouw’s case his third straight even-par round at Grayhawk.

   It had to be one off the most contentious battles for the individual title in the history of the NCAA Championship with four players involved in a playoff and another four players a shot behind them. They all had a shot.

   Arkansas’ Mateo Fernandez De Oliveira, a junior from Argentina and No. 50 in the WAGR, closed with a 2-over 72 to finish alone in ninth place with a 2-over 282 total. Guy finishes two shots out of the playoff for the title and ends up ninth place.

   Texas A&M’s Sam Bennett, a senior from Madisonville, Texas and No. 5 in the WAGR, apparently was playing a different golf course than the rest of the field was Monday as he closed with a sizzling 6-under 64 to end up with a top-10 finish, his 3-over 283 total leaving him alone in 10^th place.

   It was a disappointing day for No. 17 Auburn, an SEC entry, as the Tigers closed with an 11-over 291 to finish in a tie for 10^th place with SEC rival Florida at 40-over 1,160, seven shots out of the last spot in the match-play bracket.

   But Auburn got a bust-out performance from sophomore Carson Bacha, the PIAA Class AAA champion as a senior at Central York in 2019. Bacha matched par in the final round with a 70 as he finished in the group tied for 20^th place with a 7-over 287 total.

   Five of the seven teams that had survived the cut to 15 teams, but failed to make the match-play bracket came out of the SEC, so it remains the toughest conference top to bottom in the country.

   One of those teams was No. 23 Mississippi, which closed with a 300 to finish alone in 14^th place with a 57-over 1,177 total.

   Evan Brown, one of the Ches-Mont League’s top performers during an outstanding scholastic career at Kennett, was one of the best players in the history of the program at Loyola of Maryland. Brown took the extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA to make up for the spring of 2020 lost to the coronavirus pandemic at Ole Miss.

   Brown closed with a 3-over 73 to finish among the group tied for 57^th place with a 295 total.

   It’s easy to forget how much the pandemic impacted the lives of the men and women who have been competing at Grayhawk the last couple of weeks. The younger kids were still in high school when they had their lives turned upside down in the spring of 2020.

   But they have persevered and just making it to Grayhawk is proof that they were able to overcome some big hurdles and compete at the highest level of college golf.

 

 

 

Welch's 63 keeps No. 1 Oklahoma at top of the leaderboard in NCAA Championship at Grayhawk

    Oklahoma and Oklahoma State have been on a collision course throughout the wraparound 2021-2022 college golf season.

   The Big 12 champion Sooners are No. 1 in the latest Golfstat rankings, the Big 12 runnerup Cowboys are No. 2. Each claimed an NCAA regional team crown, Oklahoma winning the Norman Regional on its home course, the Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club, Oklahoma State taking the Columbus Regional on the challenging Scarlet Course at The Ohio State University Golf Club.

   They will enter the final round of stroke play in the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. the same way, 1-2, with the Sooners holding a four-shot lead over the Cowboys following the completion of Round 3 Sunday in the desert.

   Oklahoma, getting a spectacular 7-under-par 63 over the 7,289-yard, par-70 Grayhawk layout from Patrick Welch, a senior from Aliso Viejo, Calif. and No. 68 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), recorded a solid 3-under 277 Sunday that left the Sooners with a 1-under 839 total.

   Oklahoma State, behind a 6-under 65 from Eugenio Chacarra, a senior from Spain and No. 4 in the WAGR, posted its second straight 3-under 277, leaving the Cowboys four shots behind their cross-state rivals with a 3-over 843 total.

   By the end of the day Sunday, it was a very chalky affair with the top seven teams in the Golfstat rankings occupying the top seven spots in the team standings, not quite in order, but close. It’s not a real shocker because those seven teams have seemed destined to get into the match-play bracket all season.

   The top eight teams – the field was cut to 15 teams at the end of Sunday’s third round – following a Memorial Day final round will advance to match play beginning with the quarterfinals Tuesday morning. Some epic matches would seem to be in the offing, which The Golf Channel, which begins its coverage with Monday’s final round of stroke play, during which an individual champion will be crowned, was sort of counting on.

   No. 3 Vanderbilt, the Southeastern Conference champion, was two shots behind Oklahoma State in third place as the Commodores carded a solid 1-over 281 that left them with a 6-over 847 total.

   Vanderbilt’s precocious freshman, Gordon Sargent of Birmingham, Ala. and No. 14 in the WAGR, took over the lead in the individual standings as he registered a second straight 2-under 68 that gave him a 4-under 206 total.

   No. 5 North Carolina, out of the Atlantic Coast Conference, was four shots behind Vanderbilt in fourth place with a 9-over 849 total after the Tar Heels matched par with a 280.

   Defending national champion Pepperdine, the West Coast Conference champion, was four shots behind North Carolina with a 13-over 853 total. The No. 6 Waves matched the low team score of the day with a 3-under 277 total.

   No. 4 Arizona State, out of the Pac-12, was the fourth team to post a 3-under 277 in Sunday’s third round as the Sun Devils, playing just a few miles from their campus, were in sixth place, six shots behind Pepperdine with a 19-over 859 total.

   A third Big-12 entry, No. 7 Texas, was a shot behind Arizona State in seventh place with a 20-over 860 total. The Longhorns also bettered par as a team Sunday with a 2-under 278.

   If you don’t think any one of Pepperdine, Arizona State or Texas is capable of running the table in match play if they can get in, you haven’t been paying attention.

   Vanderbilt’s SEC rival, No. 14 Arkansas, registered its second straight 6-over 286 that left the Razorbacks clinging to eighth place – again, the top eight following Monday’s final round of stroke play make the match-play field – with a 26-over 866 total, six shots behind Texas.

   Arkansas has SEC rival Auburn, ranked 17^th, and No. 8 Texas Tech, yet another Big 12 entry, lurking three shots behind it in a tie for ninth place at 29-over 869. The Tigers carded an 18-over 288 in Sunday’s third round and the Red Raiders checked in with a 15-over 285.

   Despite Welch’s fireworks, Chris Gotterup, a redshirt senior from Little Silver, N.J. and No. 27 in the WAGR, sits the highest on the individual leaderboard for Oklahoma. Gotterup carded a 2-under 68 in Sunday’s third round and was just a shot behind Vanderbilt’s Sargent, the individual leader, in second place with a 3-under 207 total.

   The round of the week, however, belonged to Welch as he made seven birdies, including three straight at the eighth, ninth and 10^th holes, and had nary a bogey on his scorecard in his scintillating 63. That left him alone in fourth place in the individual standings at 1-under 209.

   Logan McAlister, a senior from Oklahoma City, Okla. and No. 11 in the WAGR, and Drew Goodman, a freshman home boy from Norman, Okla., were in the group tied for 17^th place at 4-over 214, although both struggled a little, each posting a 4-over 74.

   Oklahoma head coach Ryan Hybl went to his bench for the fifth spot in his lineup and Stephen Campbell Jr., a redshirt freshman from Richmond, Texas, responded with a solid 2-over 72.

   Oklahoma State’s Eugenio Chacarra, a senior from Spain, and No. 4 in the WAGR, led the way for the Cowboys as he fired a sparkling 5-under 65 that left him in third place in the individual standings, a shot behind Gotterup at 2-under 208.

   North Carolina teammates David Ford, a freshman from Peachtree Corners, Ga. and No. 38 in the WAGR, and Ryan Burnett, a senior from Lafayette, Calif., were two of the four players tied for fifth place at even-par 210. Ford recorded a 1-under 69 while Burnett matched par with a 70 in Sunday’s third round.

   Rounding out the foursome at even-par were Texas senior Parker Coody, one of the Longhorns’ twin grandsons of 1971 Masters champion Charlie Coody from Plano, Texas, and Arkansas’ Mateo Fernandez De Oliveira, a junior from Argentina and No. 50 in the WAGR, both of whom registered a 2-under 68 Sunday.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the individual standings were Arizona State’s Cameron Sisk, a senior from San Diego and No. 40 in the WAGR, and Pepperdine’s William Mouw, a junior from Chino, Calif. and No. 70 in the WAGR, both of whom landed on 1-over 211.

   Sisk carded a 2-under 68 while Mouw matched par with a 70.

   Auburn sophomore Carson Bacha, the 2019 PIAA Class AAA champion as a senior at Central York, continued his strong play as the Tigers contend for a spot in the match-play bracket. Bacha posted a 1-over 71 that left him in the group tied for 34^th place at 7-over 217.

   Mississippi graduate student Evan Brown, who starred scholastically at Kennett and transferred to Ole Miss after a solid career at Loyola of Maryland, carded a 2-over 72 that left him in the group tied for 68^th place with a 12-over 222 total.

   Brown helped the No. 23 Rebels, out of the SEC, survive the team cut as they registered a 293 to share 14^th place with ACC power Georgia Tech at 37-over 877.

   Liberty junior Austin Barbin of the golfing Barbin family of Elkton, Md., added a 77 to the 82 he carded in Saturday’s second round after replacing older brother Zach, a senior, in the Flames’ lineup. Austin Barbin was the 2019 Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Junior Boys’ Championship winner and transferred to Liberty after two seasons at Maryland.

   No. 38 Liberty, out of the ASUN, failed to survive the cut to the low 15 teams for Monday’s final round as the Flames carded a 303 and were in 26^th place in the 30-team field with a 58-over 808 total.

 

 

 

 

Gotterup leads No. 1 Oklahoma to top of the leaderboard after two rounds of NCAA Championship at Grayhawk

    Behind a sparkling 4-under-par 66 from Chris Gotterup, a redshirt senior from Little Silver, N.J. and No. 27 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), Oklahoma, the No. 1 team in the Golfstat college golf rankings, took over the lead in the team standings after two rounds of the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club.

   Gotterup, whose college career started at Rutgers, led the way Saturday as the Big 12 champion Sooners posted the best team round of the tournament, a 5-under 275 over the 7, 289-yard, par-70 Grayhawk layout, to take a two-shot lead over Southeastern Conference champion Vanderbilt, ranked No. 3.

   Oklahoma had opened with a 7-over 287 before going low Saturday to get it to 2-over 262 for two rounds.

   The Commodores, behind individual leader Cole Sherwood, a sophomore from Austin, Texas and No. 45 in the WAGR, put together a second straight 2-over 282 and were two shots behind the Sooners with a 4-over 264 total. Vanderbilt had taken a three-shot lead following Friday’s opening round.

   Oklahoma’s Big 12 and in-state rival Oklahoma State also surged into contention for the top seed in qualifying for match play with a 3-under 277 that left the Cowboys two shots behind Vanderbilt with a 6-over 566 total. Oklahoma State had opened with a 9-over 289.

   Oklahoma, Vanderbilt and Oklahoma State are all coming off team wins in regional competition, the Sooners capturing the Norman Regional on their home course, the Commodores topping the field in the Palm Beach Regional and the Cowboys finishing atop the leaderboard in the Columbus Regional.

   Atlantic Coast Conference power North Carolina, ranked fifth, was three shots behind Oklahoma State with a 9-over 569 total after the Tar Heels added a 1-over 281 to their opening-round 288.

   The field will be cut to the top 15 teams following Sunday’s third round. The top eight survivors will battle it out for the eight spots in the match-play bracket with the quarterfinals getting under way Tuesday.

   The top four had separated themselves a little in the race for those coveted eight spots in match play.

   Defending national champion Pepperdine, ranked sixth, was seven shots behind North Carolina in fifth place with a 16-over 576 total as the West Coast Conference champion Waves bounced back from an opening-round 294 with a solid 2-over 282 total.

   A couple of Vanderbilt’s SEC rivals, No. 14 Arkansas and No. 17 Auburn, occupied the next two spots in the team standings.

   The Razorbacks were four shots behind Pepperdine in sixth place after adding a 6-over 286 to their opening-round 284 for a 20-over 580 total. The Tigers were a shot behind Arkansas in seventh place with a 21-over 581 total after struggling a little in the second round with a 16-over 296. Auburn had been in a tie for second place following an opening round of 5-over 285.

   A third Big 12 power, No. 7 Texas, and Pac-12 power Arizona State, ranked fourth, were tied for eighth place, a shot behind Auburn with a 22-over 582 total. The Longhorns recorded a second straight 11-over 291 while the Sun Devils, playing a few miles from their campus, added a 12-over 292 to their opening-round 290.

   Big 12 upstart Kansas, the lowest-ranked team in the top 10 at No. 25, and No. 15 Georgia, another SEC entry, were a shot behind Texas and Arizona State in a tie for 10^th place, each landing on 23-over 583. The Jayhawks struggled a little with a 297 after opening with a 6-over 286. The Bulldogs added a 12-over 292 to their opening-round 291.

   Gotterup had opened with a 3-over 73 before heating up with his second-round 66 that left him in a tie for fourth place in the individual standings with a 1-under 139 total, two shots behind Sherwood, the individual leader.

   Backing up Gotterup for the Sooners were Logan McAlister, a senior from Oklahoma City, Okla. and No. 11 in the WAGR, and Drew Goodman, a freshman home boy from Norman, Okla., as they were part of a trio of players tied for sixth place at even-par 140 total.

   McAlister added a 1-under 69 to his opening-round 71 while Goodman matched par for the second straight day with a 70. That gave the Sooners three players among the top six in the individual standings.

   Patrick Welch, a senior from Aliso Viejo, Calif., also matched par with a 70 for Oklahoma that left him among the group tied for 42^nd place at 6-over 146. Welch had opened with a 76.

   Rounding out the Oklahoma lineup was Ben Lorenz, a sophomore from Peoria, Ariz. who added a 6-over 76 to his opening-round 73 and was in the group tied for 76^th place with a 9-over 149 total.

   Sherwood added a sparkling 3-under 67 to his opening-round 70 to take the individual lead with a 3-under 137 total.

   One of the best rounds of the day belonged to Oklahoma State’s Aman Gupta, a senior from Concord, N.C. and No. 88 in the WAGR as he blitzed the Grayhawk layout with a 5-under 65 that left him in a tie for second place with Sherwood’s Vanderbilt teammate, Gordon Sargent, a freshman from Birmingham, Ala. and No. 14 in the WAGR, each sitting a shot behind Sherwood with a 2-under 138 total.

   Gupta, who had opened with a 3-over 73, made bogeys at the fourth and fifth holes and then proceeded to birdie seven of the next nine holes, including five straight at seven, eight, nine, 10 and 11.

   Sargent added a 2-under 68 to his opening-round 70 to join Gupta at 2-under.

   Joining Oklahoma’s Gotterup in the tie for fourth place at 1-under 139 was Mississippi’s Jackson Suber, a senior from Tampa, Fla. who matched Gupta’s sizzling 5-under 65. Suber, coming off the individual title in the Norman Regional at the Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club, had opened with a 74.

   Joining Oklahoma’s McAlister and Goodman in the trio tied for sixth place at even-par 140 was North Carolina’s Ryan Burnett, a sophomore from Lafayette, Calif. who added a 1-under 69 to his opening-round 71.

   Burnett’s teammate, David Ford, a freshman from Peachtree Corners, Ga. and No. 38 in the WAGR, headed a group of five players tied for ninth place in the individual standings at 1-over 141. Ford matched par with a 70 in Saturday’s second round after opening with a 71.

   Rounding out the fivesome at 1-over were Pepperdine’s William Mouw, a junior from Chino, Calif. and No. 70 in the WAGR, Arkansas’ Segundo Oliva Pinto, a senior from Argentina, Kansas’ Callum Bruce, a senior from Scotland, and Liberty’s Kieran Vincent, a redshirt senior from Zimbabwe and No. 74 in the WAGR.

   Mouw, Pinto and Bruce each matched Ford’s splits of 71-70 while Vincent added a 2-over 72 to his opening-round 69.

   Auburn sophomore Carson Bacha, the 2019 PIAA Class AAA champion as a senior at Central York, matched par with a 70 in Saturday’s second round to give the Tigers’ team hopes a big boost. Bacha, who had opened with a 76, was among the group tied for 42^nd place with a 6-over 146 total.

   Evan Brown, who was one of the top players in the Ches-Mont League during his career at Kennett, is in the Ole Miss lineup as a graduate transfer after an outstanding career at Loyola of Maryland. Brown added a 7-over 77 in Saturday’s second round to his opening-round 73 as he was in the group tied for 87^th place with a 10-over 150 total.

   Liberty junior Austin Barbin of the golfing Barbin family of Elkton, Md., replaced big brother Zach in the Flames’ lineup, but couldn’t get it going at Grayhawk as he carded an 82. Austin Barbin highlighted a tremendous summer of junior golf in 2019 by winning the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Junior Boys’ Championship at Coatesville Country Club.

   Liberty, which plays out of the ASUN, struggled to a 23-over 303 in Saturday’s second round that left the 38^th-ranked Flames in 22^nd place with a 593 total. Josh Ryan, the 2019 District One Class AAA champion while representing Norristown, is expected to join the Liberty program later this summer.