Sooners, Cowboys unbeaten on first day of Big 12 Match Play
HOCKLEY, Texas – Oklahoma State and Oklahoma each went unbeaten in two matches on the first day of action at the Big 12 Match Play Tournament on Monday at Houston Oaks.
The Cowboys knocked off Baylor, 6-0-0, during the morning session before adding another 6-0-0 victory over Iowa State in the second session at the par-71, 7,007-yard layout.
In addition to securing all 12 match points on the day, the Cowboys recorded a +37 hole differential in the process.
Against the Bears, senior Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen led the way with a 6-and-5 win over Luke Dossey. Classmate Aman Gupta tallied a 5-and-3 triumph over Brandon Hoff.
Seniors Leo Oyo and Eugenio Chacarra each recorded 3-and-2 triumphs, taking down Johnny Keefer and Zach Heffernan, respectively.
Juniors Brian Stark and Dillon Stewart logged 2-and-1 wins over Mark Reppe and Luke Morgan to round out the scoring for the Cowboys.
The Pokes carried their momentum into the afternoon round against the Cyclones. Neergaard-Petersen once again paced the squad. With his 4-and-2 win over Frank Lindwall, he finished the day with 13 holes won in the 30 he played over his two matches.
Stewart and Oyo were each responsible for 3-and-2 wins, defeating Nate Vance and Josh Hetherington.
Chacarra defeated Ricky Costello, 2 up, while sophomore Jonas Baumgartner and Stark each registered 2-and-1 wins. Baumgartner took down Luke Gutschewski and Stark bested Lachlan Barker.
Three Oklahoma golfers went undefeated Monday as the top-seeded Sooners went 2-0, dispatching West Virginia and Kansas State.
Chris Gotterup, Jaxon Dowell, Stephen Campbell Jr. and Logan McAllister combined to defeat their opponents by 27 holes across two matches, giving No. 1 Oklahoma six total points and a tie atop Pool A with Texas Tech. The Big 12’s annual fall championship pits all 10 Big 12 men’s golf teams against each other in a pool-play format, with the two highest point earners meeting in Wednesday afternoon’s championship match.
“It was a great start to the week,” head coach Ryan Hybl said. “It’s always difficult to win matches and to get the momentum early on is very good for us. We had three guys go undefeated in Dowell, Gotterup and Campbell Jr. Tomorrow is going to be a big test for us because we know that Kansas team is tough, so it’ll be a grind.”
The Sooners opened the day with a 4-1-1 win over West Virginia. Gotterup got into the clubhouse first with a wire-to-wire 6 and 4 win over Olivier Menard, followed shortly after by a 4 and 3 victory from Stephen Campbell Jr. True freshman Drew Goodman added a 3 and 2 win, while redshirt freshman Jaxon Dowell took the 18th hole to secure a match-winning 1 up victory. Then, Logan McAllister halved his match, and Patrick Welch was downed 4 and 2.
Against Kansas State, Gotterup, Dowell and Campbell Jr. added their second victories of the day while Logan McAllister improved to 11-3-1 all-time in match play events with a 4 and 3 win. Ben Lorenz made his season debut and erased a late one-hole deficit to halve his match, while Goodman fell 2 and 1 to K-State’s top-ranked player Tim Tillmanns.
The Big 12 Match Play Championship consists of three days of play at the par-71, 7,007-yard Golf Club at Houston Oaks, guaranteeing each team five matches throughout the week.
Complete results from first round and live scoring of Tuesday’s matches are here.