Sooners, Cowboys move to match play after near misses for individual NCAA title
Final Stroke Play scoring:
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. –It was a day of mixed emotions for both Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. Both could have produced an NCAA champion, as Sooner Chris Gotterup and Cowboy Eugenio Chacarra had great chances down the stretch. And both dropped in the seedings, with OU falling into the second seed and OSU dropping from second to fifth.
In the end, however, both are advancing to match play with their main goal still well within their grasp. And if they are to eventually meet in match play after four consecutive days of dueling in stroke play, it would be in the finals.
For a nation-leading sixth consecutive year, Oklahoma advanced to match play after finishing in a tie for first place with Vanderbilt, which following 72 holes of stroke play at the NCAA Championships at Grayhawk Golf Club.
The Sooners (T1, +14), who earned the No. 2 seed following a tiebreaker with Vanderbilt and North Carolina, will take on host university and seventh-seeded Arizona State in Tuesday morning’s quarterfinal. A victory in the morning session would earn a semifinal battle with either No. 3 North Carolina or No. 6 Pepperdine.
The Cowboys, who advanced for the ninth time since the implementation of match play in 2009, carded a 298 during their fourth round at the par-70, 7,289-yard layout. OSU will take on Texas in tomorrow morning’s quarterfinal match. North Carolina will be in the No. 3 slot. Pepperdine, Arizona State and Texas Tech finished as Nos. 6, 7 and 8, respectively.
The Sooners struggled to a score of 295 Monday, their worst of the four days.
“We didn’t play our best today for sure,” head coach Ryan Hybl said. “But when it was all said and done, we got the job done and checked our second box for the week and will head into match play. We’re looking forward to the challenge that waits for us. These guys did a great job all week long, especially early on to put us in a spot so that we didn’t have too much stress coming into today.”
Gotterup finished in a tie for fifth at the championship but was just one stroke off the lead. The redshirt senior missed a 3-foot birdie putt on 17 that would have given him the lead, then made a three-put bogey on the 18th hole to miss a playoff by a shot. He finished with a 4-over 74. Gotterup officially earned the No. 6 spot in the PGA Tour U rankings after opening the season outside of the top 60.
Patrick Welch (T15, +6), who fired the championship’s low round of 63 on Sunday, finished in a tie for 15th. On Monday, the senior carded a 77 (+7) to drop him out of title contention, but a clutch birdie on No. 17 moved him from 20th to 15th on the leaderboard. Welch led the field with 18 birdies on the week.
True freshman Drew Goodman (T20, +7) fired OU’s low round of the day, posting a 73 (+3) to finish 20th at his first national championship. The Norman product posted 70-70-74-73 for a 287 on the week. Thriving on par-five holes, Goodman was 3-under on the course’s longest holes for the week, sixth-best in the field.
Logan McAllister (T25, +8) locked in a top-five spot in the PGA Tour U rankings, securing a spot on the Korn Ferry Tour after the championship ends. The senior from Oklahoma City signed for a 74 (+4) to wrap up his collegiate stroke-play career. In his three years in the OU lineup, McAllister posted 20 top-20 finishes, 12 top 10s and four wins, the second-most in school history behind only Anthony Kim.
Gotterup and McAllister are both finalists for the Fred Haskins Award, awarded annually to the nation’s top golfer. An announcement naming the award’s 2022 winner will be made Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. CT on Golf Channel.
Stephen Campbell Jr., who subbed in for Ben Lorenz after the second round, wrapped up stroke play with a counting score of 74 (+4) on Monday. On Tuesday, the redshirt freshman will remain in the lineup for the Sooners’ matchup with ASU.
Top-ranked Oklahoma’s quarterfinal battle with the Sun Devils tees off at 8:20 a.m. CT. Live coverage of the match will be aired on Golf Channel beginning at 11 a.m. CT. A win in the morning would punch OU’s ticket to its second consecutive semifinal, which would be played on Tuesday afternoon vs. the winner of North Carolina and Pepperdine. In 2021, the Sooners knocked off Arizona State 3-2 in the national semifinal. Logan McAllister is the lone holdover from that match where he defeated Mason Andersen 4 and 3.
For Oklahoma State, Chacarra came up just short in his bid to become the program’s 10th individual national champion, falling in a four-man playoff. Chacarra closed with an eventful 2-over 72 to make it to extra holes.
Chacarra started bogey-birdie-bogey before carding his lone par of the front nine at the fourth. He would birdie the fifth before playing the next two holes 5-over par. He would rally with birdies over the next three holes to get back to 2-over for the day. After a birdie at the 15th, Chacarra held a slim one-shot lead heading to the 17th before carding his final bogey of the day. He would narrowly miss his birdie attempt at the 18th hole, forcing the playoff.
Vanderbilt’s Gordon Sargent would birdie the extra hole to capture medalist honors. Chacarra’s finish marked the third consecutive NCAA Championship the Cowboys have had the medalist or runner-up with Matthew Wolff winning the event in 2019 and Bo Jin finishing second last year as a freshman.
Junior Brian Stark joined Chacarra in the top 15, tying for 15th place at 286 after carding a closing 71.
Senior Aman Gupta signed for a 78 to finish tied for 47th place at 293.
Jin closed with an 80 to finish at 294 and tied for 52nd place.
Sophomore Jonas Baumgartner grabbed sole possession of 66th place at 299 with his 77 on Monday.
The Cowboys and Longhorns will get their quarterfinal match underway tomorrow at 9:10 a.m. (CST). Live scoring is available at golfstat.com. Golf Channel coverage will begin at 11 a.m. (CST).