Sooners crush field at San Diego Regional
With a season-low 843 (-21), the No. 14 Oklahoma men’s rolled to a 20-stroke, wire-to-wire victory at the NCAA San Diego Regional to advance to its fifth straight NCAA Championships. The three-day, 54-hole tournament was played at the 6,947-yard, par-72 The Farms Golf Club in San Diego, Calif.
The Sooners, who were the No. 3 seed in the event, fired a 4-under-par 284 in Saturday’s closing round against a 13-team field that featured eight squads ranked within the top 50 of the latest Golfstat standings.
OU has now won four regionals in its program history, with the others coming in 1989, 1995 and 2001. The win also marks the third this season and 10th overall under sixth-year OU head coach Ryan Hybl.
"This was a great week, and the guys performed unbelievable right from the start," Hybl said. "I am so proud of these guys bouncing back after Big 12s (where they finished in sixth place) like this, and we put together a great overall tournament."
The NCAA San Diego Regional was one of six 54-hole preliminary events for the NCAA Championships finals. The low five teams and low individual not on those teams from each regional advanced to the NCAA finals.
Joining the Sooners from the San Diego Regional at NCAAs will be No. 1 seed Arizona State, No. 2 seed Georgia Tech, No. 6 seed Georgia and No. 5 seed Virginia. Arizona State finished the event with an 863 (-1), while Georgia Tech finished at 5 over. Georgia and Virginia posted scores of 870 (+6) and 874 (+10), respectively. Gudmundur Kristjansson of East Tennessee State will move on as an individual.
Individually, all five Sooners placed within the top 25 out of 75 competitors. With 8-under-par 208s, senior Michael Gellerman and sophomore Max McGreevy tied for second place, two strokes behind individual winner Jon Rahm of Arizona State. Both Sooners shot 3-under 69s on Saturday, with Gellerman pocketing four birdies to just one bogey and McGreevy recording five birdies.
Gellerman has three top-five showings this season and has only finished outside the top 20 once in 12 team events. The finish was a career best for McGreevy and his third within the top five this season. The 208 is also a career-low 54-hole mark.
Grant Hirschman recorded his ninth top-20 finish of his freshman campaign by taking 12th place. Hirschman shot a third-round 73 (+1) to finish with a 215 (-1).
After shooting a 1-over-par 73 in the final round, Charlie Saxon tied for 14th place, his fifth top-20 showing in eight events this spring. Saxon recorded a 217 (+1) total for the regional.
Junior Beau Titsworth shot a 77 (+5) on Saturday and a total of 220 (+4) to tie for 23rd place.
The 30-team NCAA Championships will be held May 29-June 3 at the Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla. Last year, the Sooners tied for 16th place at the national tournament.
Team Standings
1. Oklahoma 284-275-284=843
2. Arizona State 300-281-282=863
3. Georgia Tech 299-283-287=869
4. Georgia 307-278-285=870
5. Virginia 297-290-287=874
6. East Tennessee State 289-294-297=880
7. Wichita State 292-298-289=882
8. St. Mary’s, California 295-298-289=882
9. New Mexico 303-292-291=886
T10. San Diego 297-295-297=889
T10. Idaho 301-287-301=889
12. Mississippi 314-287-290=891
13. Eastern Kentucky 299-305-298-902
Top Individuals
1. Jon Rahm (Arizona State) 73-64-69=206
T2. Michael Gellerman (Oklahoma) 71-68-69=208
T2. Max McGreevy (Oklahoma) 70-69-69=208
4. Denny McCarthy (Virginia) 72-69-69=210
5. Lee McCoy (Georgia) 73-70-69=212
OU Players
T2. Michael Gellerman 71-68-69=208
T2. Max McGreevy 70-69-69=208
12. Grant Hirschman 69-73-73=215
T14. Charlie Saxon 75-69-73=217
T23. Beau Titsworth 74-69-77=220