Monday morning wrap: OTN members win across the globe! State Amateurs approach

The names Chris Gotterup and Talor Gooch are not strongly linked in the public mind. One is a transplant from Rutgers who spent two years at Oklahoma (Gotterup), the other is a proud Cowboy from Midwest City (Gooch.) One is a rising star on the PGA Tour, the other a mainstay for LIV Golf.

This weekend, the two notched a pair of significant victories that may make more golf fans more aware of what they have in common.

For starters, both are members at Oak Tree National in Edmond, where the new Oak Tree Gang is no longer just an extension of the OSU golf program, but includes significant Sooners as well such as PGA Tour members Max McGreevy, Quade Cummins and Gotterup.

Gotterup lives in Edmond while Gooch resides in Nicholls Hills. On Sunday, Gotterup held off Rory McIlroy and others to win the Scottish Open, securing a place in this week’s Open Championship. Gooch held off Jon Rahm by a stroke to win LIV Golf Audulucia for his fourth individual LIV title.

While all that was going on, another former Cowboy almost made it a trifecta, as Kevin Dougherty became a runner up for the fifth time on the Korn Ferry Tour, finishing one shot behind Neal Shipley in The Ascendant at TPC Colorado. Another former Cowboy Zach Bauchou tied for fourth, while also making the cut was former Jenks and OSU star as well as three-time Oklahoma Golf Association State Amateur champion Brendon Jelley, who tied for 37th with former Sooner Patrick Welch. OSU ex Jonas Baumgartner tied for 46th while former Sooner Blaine Hale Jr. tied for 49th.

The Korn Ferry Tour will be coming to Oklahoma this fall with the Compliance Solutions Championship scheduled Sept. 29-Oct. 5 at The Patriot in Owasso. Tickets are on sale now at the site.

Jelley won the State Amateur Championship in 2014 at The Patriot and added titles in 2015 at Oak Tree National and 2017 at Southern Hills CC. Next week that event goes to Cedar Ridge CC in Broken Arrow, where Jelley was a long-time member. He won’t be playing obviously but four Cedar Ridge members will be in the event, and all of them have ties to the recently resurrected University of Tulsa golf program. 

The four are University of Tulsa first-year football coach Tre Lamb, along with former TU golfers Chris Noel, Billy Lowry and Rob Laird. Here are the pairings for the qualifying round Monday that will set the field of 32 players that will advance to match play beginning Tuesday with the finals scheduled for Thursday.

The Women’s Oklahoma Golf Association will also be conducting its State Amateur Championship on the same days July 21-24 not far away at Indian Springs Country Club, also in Broken Arrow. A qualifying round will be held Monday, with match play rounds Tuesday and Wednesday and the championship match Thursday morning. Natalie Blonien of Altus won the 2024 championship at Stillwater Country Club.