Oklahoma State head coach Alan Bratton trotted out the same lineup that defeated Virginia in the NCAA Championship’s Final Match at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa last spring and delivered a 12th national title for the Cowboys in last week’s Maridoe Collegiate at the Maridoe Golf Club in Carrollton, Texas.
And wouldn’t you know it, that same lineup rolled to an 18-shot victory with an 11-over 875 total for Oklahoma State’s third team title of the wraparound 2025-2026 season and second of the spring campaign.
Oklahoma State, the reigning Big 12 champion, came into the Maridoe Collegiate at No. 7 in the Scoreboard, powered by clipped, rankings and moved up a spot to No. 6 following its victory.
The reality is that the team that won the national championship a year ago has done nothing but get better and more experienced, particularly when it comes to match play. If the Cowboys can figure out a way to fight their way into the match-play bracket when they return to La Costa and Carlsbad, Calif. next month, they are going to be a tough, tough out.
It was a dominant performance by Oklahoma State on a 7,569-yard, par-72 Maridoe layout that seems to have played plenty tough, particularly in Tuesday’s final round.
Ethan Fang, a junior from Plano, Texas and No. 8 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), and Preston Stout, a junior from Richardson, Texas and No. 3 in the WAGR, shared medalist honors as they were the only players to finish under par, each ending up with a 1-under 215 total.
Eric Lee, a junior from Fullerton, Calif. and No. 29 in the WAGR, finished in a tie for fourth place at 1-over 217 for the Cowboys.
Oklahoma State basically put the team chase away with an opening round of 5-under 283. The Cowboys added a 5-over 293 in the afternoon of Monday’s double round to take a 14-shot lead over Big 12 rival Arizona State into Tuesday’s final round.
Oklahoma State closed with an 11-over 299 to expand its final margin of victory over the Sun Devils to 18 shots.
Fang had five birdies, including three straight at the 12th, 13th and 14th holes against a lone bogey in an opening round of 4-under 68 that matched the low individual round of the tournament.
He matched par in the afternoon of Monday’s double round with a 72 to take a two-shot lead over his teammate Stout going into the final round before stumbling a little with a 3-over 75 that left him at 1-under.
Stout made a birdie at the third hole, ripped off three straight birdies at five, six and seven and added another birdie at 13 to get it to 5-under in the opening round. Closing bogeys at the 17th and 18th holes left him with a 3-under 69.
Back-to-back 1-over 73s left him with a share of medalist honors with Fang at 1-under. It was Stout’s second win of the season and fifth career victory.
Fang and Stout carried the momentum of Oklahoma State’s national championship at La Costa into the summer last year.
Fang took a hop over the pond and became the first American since Drew Weaver in 2007 to capture the title in The Amateur Championship at Royal St. George’s Golf Club.
It will be interesting see how well Maridoe prepares Fang for the big stage because that victory in The Amateur Championship earned him a starting time in next week’s Masters.
Stout was the medalist in qualifying in the U.S. Amateur at The Olympic Club in San Francisco, Calif. and reached the round of 16 in match play.
A couple of weeks later Stout delivered the point that clinched an outright victory for the United States in its 17-9 victory over Great Britain & Ireland in the Walker Cup Match at the iconic Cypress Point Club on northern California’s Monterey Peninsula.
Fang was also on that winning U.S. side at Cypress Point.
Lee contributed a 2-under 70 to Oklahoma State’s fast start, added a 1-over 73 in the afternoon of Monday’s double round and closed with a 2-over 74 to get a share of fourth place with Alabama’s William Jennings, a sophomore from Greenville, S.C. and No. 59 in the WAGR, each ending up at 1-over.
Lee has established some pretty strong match-play chops of his own. All he did at La Costa last spring was pull out the clinching point in both the Cowboys’ semifinal victory over Mississippi and again in the Final Match against Virginia.
In August, Lee reached the semifinals of the U.S. Amateur at The Olympic Club before falling to eventual champion Mason Howell, the talented teen from Thomasville, Ga.
Oklahoma State’s other victory this spring came in the Cabo Collegiate, which wrapped up March 3rd at the Twin Dolphin Club in Los Cabos, Mexico. Stout ran away with the individual title by seven shots to lead the way for the Cowboys.
Hoping to get a chance to see Fang, Stout and Lee in action this summer when the U.S. Amateur comes to our backyard in Philadelphia at Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course in the Ardmore section of Haverford Township.
Arizona State, which maintained its No. 9 spot in the Scoreboard rankings, earned runnerup honors with a 29-over 893 total.
After opening with a 4-over 292, the Sun Devils added a 10-over 298 in the afternoon of Monday’s double round before closing with a 303.
Arizona State was led by freshman Bowen Mauss, the bomber from Draper, Utah who finished among a trio tied for eighth place at 4-over 220. After opening with a 3-over 75, Mauss added a 1-under 71 in the afternoon of Monday’s double round before closing with a 2-over 74.
Arizona State advanced to the NCAA Championship last spring by finishing in second place as the top seed in the Bremerton Regional, but never really got it going at La Costa.
Baylor, another Big 12 entry, and host North Texas, playing out of the American Athletic Conference, outperformed their rankings by finishing in third and fourth place, respectively.
The Bears only trailed Oklahoma State by six shots following an opening round of 1-over 289, but struggled to a 309 in the afternoon of Monday’s double round before closing with a 299 that left them in third place with a 33-over 897 total.
Baylor got a couple of top-10 finishes individually as Alex Heard, a junior from Boca Raton, Fla., finished in sixth place with a 2-over 218 and Jonas Appel, a senior from Encinitas, Calif. joined Arizona State’s Mauss and Texas Rio Grande Valley’s Jorge Martin Sampedro, a freshman from Spain, in the trio tied for eighth place at 4-over 220.
Heard opened with a solid 1-under 71 and added a 2-over 74 in the afternoon of Monday’s double round before closing with a 1-over 73.
After opening with a 1-over 73, Appel added a 4-over 76 in the afternoon of Monday’s double round before closing with a solid 1-under 71.
Baylor was No. 94 in the Scoreboard rankings following its solid showing in the Maridoe Collegiate.
The Mean Green added a 7-over 295 in the afternoon of Monday’s double round to their opening-round 299 before closing with a 305 as they finished two shots behind Baylor in fourth place with a 35-over 899 total.
North Texas was a spot ahead of Baylor at No. 93 in the Scoreboard rankings in the aftermath of the Maridoe Collegiate.
Oklahoma State’s ancient in-state rival, Oklahoma, finished five shots behind North Texas in fifth place with a 40-over 904 total.
The two teams are no longer Big 12 rivals with the Sooners’ move to the Southeastern Conference in the fall of 2024. The rivalry between the two schools might be its most intense in men’s golf and the golf gods gave us an Oklahoma State-Oklahoma matchup in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championship last spring at La Costa, the Cowboys winning the match on their way to the national title.
Oklahoma opened with a solid 1-over 289 in the Maridoe Collegiate, but struggled after that as the Sooners added a 311 in the afternoon of Monday’s double round before closing with a 304.
Oklahoma was led Ryder Cowan, a senior home boy from Edmond, Okla. and No. 27 in the WAGR who finished in third place in the individual standings, a shot behind Oklahoma State’s Fang and Stout with an even-par 216 total.
Cowan matched Fang’s opening round of 4-under 68 and struggled a little with a 4-over 76 in the afternoon of Monday’s double round before matching par in the final round with a 72.
Alabama, one of Oklahoma’s SEC rivals, finished three shots behind the Sooners in sixth place in the 13-team field with a 43-over 907 total.
The Crimson Tide, who dropped a spot in the Scoreboard rankings from No. 16 to No. 17 following the Maridoe Collegiate, opened with an 11-over 299 and added a 302 in the afternoon of Monday’s double round before closing with a 306.
Jennings led the way for Alabama as he added a solid 2-under 70 in the afternoon of Monday’s double round to his opening round of 2-over 74 before closing with a 73 to get a share of fourth place with Oklahoma State’s Lee at 1-over.
It was a disappointing end to the wraparound 2024-’25 season for Alabama last spring as the Crimson Tide failed to advance to the NCAA Championship as a three seed in the Reno Regional.
Backing up the trio of Fang, Stout and Lee for Oklahoma State was Gaven Lane, a junior from Argyle, Texas and No. 79 in the WAGR, as he finished alone in 24th place with a 228 total.
Lane added a 3-over 75 in the afternoon of Monday’s double round to his opening-round 76 before closing with a 77.
Rounding out the Oklahoma State lineup was Filip Fahlberg-Johnsson, a sophomore from Sweden who finished among the group tied for 29th place at 231. After opening with a 4-over 76, Fahlberg-Johnsson added a 78 in the afternoon of Monday’s double round before finishing up with a 77.
Also in the group at 231 was Oklahoma State’s Collin Bond, a redshirt freshman from Norman, Okla. who was competing as an individual. Bond opened with a solid 1-over 73, but struggled a little after that, adding a 78 in the afternoon of Monday’s double round before closing with an 80.
Boston College’s Markus Lam, a junior from Hong Kong, finished alone in seventh place with a 3-over 219 total. After opening with a solid 2-under 70, Lam added a 1-over 73 in the afternoon of Monday’s double round before closing with a 76.
The Eagles, an Atlantic Coast Conference representative, finished last of the 13 teams with a 67-over 931 total.
Rounding out the trio tied for eighth place at 4-over was UTRGV’s Martin Sampedro as he bounced back from an opening round of 6-over 78 with a 2-under 70 in the afternoon of Monday’s double round before matching par in the final round with a 72.
UTRGV, which plays out of the Southland Conference, finished in seventh place in the team standings with a 50-over 914 total.
Sophomore Nick Gross, the 2021 Pennsylvania champion in Class AAA as a sophomore at Downingtown West, was in the lineup for Alabama and finished among a trio tied for 57th place with a 237 total.
Gross struggled at Maridoe as he opened with a 6-over 78 and added a 79 in the afternoon of Monday’s double round before closing with an 80.
Alabama has one more regular-season tournament, the Mossy Oak Collegiate, hosted by SEC rival Mississippi State in West Point, Miss. April 13 and 14.
That will be the final tuneup for the Crimson Tide before the SEC Championship tees off April 22 at the Sea Island Resort on St. Simons Island, Ga.
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