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.