Blonien’s charge tops list of local heroics in Stephens Cup at OKC Golf & Country Club

By Ken MacLeod and wire reports

The 2024 Stephens Cup brought its unique format and high caliber field to a spectacularly groomed Oklahoma City Golf & Country Club and from a local perspective, just about everyone went home happy.

There was Tulsan Will Sides of Southern Methodist winning the men’s stroke play on Tuesday in a one-hole playoff with Oklahoma State’s Filip Fahlberg-Johnsson, then edging him again in match play Wednesday 1 up.

There was Johnsson’s OSU teammates winning the other four matches to send the Cowboys to the team title with a 4-1 victory over the Mustangs

There was Oklahoma sophomore Ryder Cowan taking fourth individually then helping propel OU to a 3.5-1.5 victory over San Diego State in the third-place match with a 6 and 5 blowout of Shea Lague of San Diego State.

But most of all, there was the final match left on the course, featuring Arkansas freshman Natalie Blonien of Altus against Oregon’s Kiara Romero, ranked 18^th in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.

Blonien made her debut as a starter for the top-ranked Razorbacks Monday and shot rounds of 81-84 in diabolical conditions. She improved to a 76 Tuesday, but was still shocked that Razorback coach Shauna Taylor slotted her in the potentially deciding fifth and final match against a player of Romero’s caliber.

“I was like, are you kidding me,” Blonien said when she learned of her pairing. “You’ve got me going out last against one of the best players in the world?”

Sure enough, Oregon and Arkansas split the first four matches and it all came down to Blonien, who was two down as the golfers walked under the tunnel leading to the par-3 15^th.

With all of her teammates and fans still on the property watching, Blonien hit a wedge to about 12 feet and made birdie at 15 to cut the lead to one. Both players made clutch par putts on 16, then on 17 Blonien hit a stunning second shot from the rough from 155 yards to about 5 feet and tied the match when Romero made bogey after hitting her tee shot close to a tree, punching out then failing to get up and down.

On the final hole, Blonien played a conservative fairway wood tee shot so as not to bring the two bunkers that pinch the fairway into play, then hit her second shot from 169 yards pin high about 25 feet left of the hole. After Romero made a fine lag putt from outside 30 feet, Blonien rolled the left-to-right breaking putt into the center of the cup as her teammates went crazy while the rest of the crowd and a national television audience on Golf Channel watched in admiration.

“Going into 18, there was definitely some pressure,” said Blonien. “I just took a deep breath, which is something I worked on the last three holes to stay calm and keep myself in it. I hit a really good shot into 18, and we picked out a great spot, so all it needed was speed, and it was dead in the heart of the cup. I struggled a little in stroke play earlier in the week, but today was a fresh day and I knew I had to help my team any way I could.”  

The finish may have announced Blonien to the collegiate world and made Taylor’s job more difficult in figuring out future lineups, but it wasn’t the first time Blonien had come up with late heroics to win. She went birdie-birdie on the final two holes to edge Harlow Gregory by a shot in the WOGA Junior Championship at Rose Creek, with her putt on 18 of similar length to the one Wednesday.

“We had it going about eight inches left to right and I just tried to put a good stroke on it,” Blonien said.

“Natalie is tough and this is going to really boost her confidence,” said Taylor. “We wanted to give her an opportunity to play in this event in her home state and she made the most of it.”

For the ninth-ranked Cowboys, the tournament title was their 42nd under the direction of head coach Alan Bratton and their first in two starts at the Stephens Cup. The match play victory came the day after the Cowboys wrapped up the 54-hole stroke play portion of the event as the top seed, finishing four shots clear of the field.

Eric Lee was dominant in the leadoff match against Matthew Foster. The sophomore transfer won the first three holes of the match before going 4-up through six after back-to-back birdies at Nos. 5 and 6.

Lee would make the turn with a 4-up advantage. Foster won the 10th, but Lee took the 13th before closing out the match with a par to win the 15th and put the Pokes on the board with a 5-and-3 victory.

Freshman Fahlberg-Johnsson took an early lead with a win at the third hole in his match against William Sides. However, Sides would tie the match on the next hole and win the seventh and ninth to turn with a 2-up lead. Fahlberg-Johnsson would take the 15th to get within one, but the duo tied the remaining three holes to give Sides a 1-up victory and provide the Mustangs’ lone point.

Sophomore Preston Stout continued his impressive play in match play competition for the Cowboys, leading from start to finish on his way to a 3-and-1 win over Zachary Kingsland. Sophomore Ethan Fang provided the clinching point with a 2-and-1 win over Enrique Dimayuga.

Sophomore Gaven Lane was in command of his match with J Holland Humphries when play was halted. The two players tied the first four holes before Lane jumped in front at the fifth and led by two at the turn. Humphries cut the margin back to one before Lane won the 12th and 14th. He was 3-up with three to play when the match was stopped.

“We’re very happy to win this event on one of Perry Maxwell’s classic courses,” said OSU coach Alan Bratton. “We’ve got a good young team and we’re getting better. We’ve been here a lot to practice and we’ve never seen the course like this. It was very demanding, in perfect condition and the entire event ws great.”

Oklahoma secured third place defeating San Diego State 3.5-1.5 in the bronze medal match.

Dominant performances by Cowan and PJ Maybank III powered the No. 2 and fourth-seeded Sooners past the third-seeded Aztecs, while Drew Goodman and Jase Summy delivered the clinching points.

After finishing fourth in stroke play to advance to match play, OU came out strong in the match play round with sophomores Maybank III and Cowan building commanding advantages in their matches. Maybank’s and Cowan’s eventual wins put Oklahoma up 2-0, while Summy secured half a point to ensure at least a draw. Goodman delivered the winning point, closing the match and securing the Sooners’ 3.5-1.5 victory with a +11 hole differential as a team.

Maybank III struck first for OU, dominating Harry Takis 5 and 4. After trailing 2-down thru four, the sophomore from Cheboygan, Mich., won four consecutive holes to turn the tide, finishing the victory on the 14th.

Cowan followed up with a 6 and 5 rout of Shea Lague, marking the most decisive match of the day on either the men’s or women’s side. The Edmond native won seven holes and dropped only one, pushing his career match-play record to an unbeaten 5-0-1.

In a tight contest, Summy held an early 1-up lead before SDSU’s Chanachon Chokprajakchat took an advantage he held for most of the match. But on the 18th and final hole, Summy’s par and Chokprajakchat’s bogey flipped the match to all square, giving the Sooners the crucial half point to ensure at least a tie.

Matthew Troutman battled in a close match, ultimately falling 2-down to Tyler Kowack, giving SDSU its only full point.

Shortly after Troutman’s defeat, preseason All-American Drew Goodman wrapped up the win for Oklahoma with a 2 and 1 victory over Justin Hastings, leading wire-to-wire and improving his career match-play record to 10-8-1.

Cowan said the Sooners had played the course many times earlier but never in conditions like Monday.

“It was good, the course was in great shape and of course it was blowing about 40 on Monday,” Cowan said. “This is the first college event I’ve been in where the winning score wasn’t under par.”

It was the second consecutive top-6 finish for Cowan who said he feels his game is coming together nicely in his second year.

“I feel good about it,” he said. “Mostly I just love competing out there, especially at home. It was great. We’ve got a great team and I think there are a lot of good things in store for us.”

For Sides, who registered his first collegiate victory at the conclusion of stroke play Tuesday, it was a hugely satisfying week.

“It was certainly tough, especially the first day, but being from Oklahoma I’m used to playing in wind. You just have to stay patient, accept that bad shots are going to happen and just kind of move on.

“This is a great event. I met Warren Stephens yesterday and it’s so gracious of him to put this event on. With the Golf Channel here all three days, it felt like a pro event.”