Cowboys roll over Virginia, claim school’s 12th national championship

CARLSBAD, Calif. – Oklahoma State’s men’s golf team captured its 12^th national championship in convincing fashion with a 4-1 victory over Virginia on Wednesday evening at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa.

The title was OSU’s second under head coach Alan Bratton, who guided the Cowboys to a national championship in 2018 in Stillwater. Bratton was also victorious as a player (1995) and assistant coach (2006).

Additionally, the victory was OSU’s second in four championship match appearances since the implementation of the current format in 2009.

“I wish I could have seen more (he was walking with Preston Stout throughout the match,” Bratton said.  “I guess we were down early, and I’d say patience and confidence were the keys. What a performance by Gaven Lane. He had struggled and hadn’t won matches the last couple days, and he was kind of down on himself. We talked and overnight he had some messages from some former players that inspired him, and I was hoping he would do something special today and he did.”

The second-ranked Cowboys ended the season on a five-tournament winning streak and won seven events overall on the year.

Freshman Filip Fahlberg-Johnsson was outstanding once again in the lead match for OSU, taking down Maxi Puregger, 3 and 1, to put OSU’s first point on the board. Fahlberg-Johnsson improved to 3-0 for the match play portion of the event.

Fahlberg-Johnsson claimed the first and never trailed in the match. He stood at 3-up through nine before Puregger claimed the 12^th and 13^th to get within one. However, the Cowboy freshman bounced back with wins at 15 and 17 to secure the point.

Point No. 2 came courtesy of sophomore Gaven Lane, who put together a huge rally on the second nine against Paul Chang. Lane found himself 2-down through seventh before winning the eighth and ninth to tie the match. He would go on to win Nos. 12-15 to close out the match.

Virginia’s lone point came courtesy of Ben James’ 3-and-2 win over sophomore Preston Stout.

For the second day in a row, sophomore Eric Lee delivered down the stretch for OSU. After losing the fourth, Lee took the seventh and eighth in his matchup with Josh Duangmanee. After Duangmanee tied it at the 10^th, Lee won the 11^th and 12^th before Duangmanee took the next two. However, Lee would roll in a long birdie putt at the 17^th and closed the match on the final hole with an up-and-down from right of the green.

Sophomore Ethan Fang held a 1-up lead in his match against Bryan Lee through 15 holes when play was halted.

“That’s what it’s all about,” Bratton said watching his team celebrate. “Oklahoma State has now won 12 (national) championships, but it’s the first one with these kids. They’ve heard stories, and we’ve had some of our best players of all time talk to them just a couple of weeks ago. Now they have their own stories to share and a responsibility for them to continue to deliver those messages to the younger players so that we can keep this thing going. You hope for that kind of chemistry in every group, and we’ve got it with this team.

“They are just tough and have confidence. They’ve been resilient all year. We played a poor first round at the (NCAA) regional, and they didn’t bat an eye. We didn’t get off to the best start here in the first round of stroke play, but they just kept inching up the board and ultimately won the three matches like you need to.”

Championship Results

(4) Oklahoma State def. Virginia (7), 4-1

Filip Fahlberg-Johnsson (OSU) def. Maxi Puregger, 3&1

Eric Lee (OSU) def. Josh Duangmanee, 2 up

Ben James def. Preston Stout (OSU), 3&2

Gaven Lane (OSU) def. Paul Chang, 4&3

Ethan Fang (OSU) def. Bryan Lee, 1 up