Oklahoma is second through three rounds, Kennesaw State misses cut at NCAA Men's Golf Championsh
The Oklahoma Sooners, with assistant coach Jim Garren of Cartersville, will head into Monday’s final round of stroke play at the NCAA DI Men’s Golf Championship trailing first place Vanderbilt by only one shot.
Vanderbilt shot an impressive 8-under-par during Sunday’s third round. The Commodores, now 18-under-par for 54 holes, lead Oklahoma, UNLV, and USC by one shot.
Oklahoma shot 4-under-par Sunday to remain tied for second place. UNLV led after two rounds and shot 3-under-par Sunday. Southern California moved up four spots in the standings and matched Vanderbilt Sunday with an 8-under-par day.
The stroke play portion of the NCAA Championship at Rich Harvest Farms Golf Club in Sugar Grove, Illinois will conclude Monday. The field of 30 teams will be cut to the top 15 teams for Monday’s round.
The top eight teams after 72 holes will advance to match play that will begin Tuesday morning. Both the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds will be played Tuesday. The Championship match will be Wednesday.
Cartersville native and Oklahoma assistant coach Jim Garren was excited about his team’s chances moving forward and about how his players performed in windy conditions.
“Today was a great day. The course definitely played tougher and we were in the final group so we had to deal with the most wind. Vandy and USC played great in the wave ahead of us. In fact, they played really well with the pin placements we saw today.”
Max McGreevy led the Sooners with a 4-under-par 68 on Sunday over the 7,300-yard Rich Harvest Farms course. McGreevy’s round included five birdies and an eagle on the par-5 18th (see video).
Blaine Hale (70), Grant Hirschman (72), and Rylee Reinertson (74) contributed the other scoring rounds Sunday for Oklahoma and all three made clutch birdies on the final hole.
Brad Dalke struggled with a non-counting 79. Each team has five players with the best four scores counting during stroke play. “Our guys fought today,” continued Garren. “As much as we had it going yesterday, today was a battle the other direction. Brad (Dalke) struggled which means the other 4 had to save every shot possible. I am so proud of their fight today and then to step up on 18 and go birdie, birdie, birdie, eagle. Man, what a feeling!”
The other Cartersville connection at the NCAA Championship is head coach Bryant Odom of Kennesaw State. His Owls’ team won the Atlantic Sun Championship and tied for second at their NCAA Regional at College Grove, TN to make the 30-team finals field, but KSU struggled in Illinois and failed to make the cut. The Owls finished 40-over -par and 29th in the standings, two shots behind Purdue and one shot ahead of Clemson.
Oklahoma is in excellent position to grab one of the eight match play spots following Monday’s conclusion of stroke play, but Garren says they want more.
“Tomorrow we are going out to try and win the stroke play portion. You can't go out there simply thinking about getting one of the eight spots. Our goal is to win every time we tee it up and tomorrow will be no different. Big big day tomorrow,” concluded Garren.
TEAM LEADERBOARD (through 54 holes)
1 — Vanderbilt — 18-under
T2 — Oklahoma — 17-under
T2 — UNLV — 17 under
T2 — Southern Cal — 17-under
5 — Illinois — 14-under
6 — Oklahoma State — 12-under
T7 — Baylor — 9-under
T7 — Virginia — 9-under
9 — Auburn — 8-under
10 — LSU — 6-under
11 — Texas — 5-under
12 — Florida State — 4-under
13 — Oregon — 1-over
14 — Pepperdine — 5-over
15 — UCF — 7-over
INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD (through 54 holes)
1 — Scottie Scheffler, Texas — 12-under
T2 — Matthias Schwab, Vanderbilt — 9-under
T2 — Dylan Meyer, Illinois — 9-under
T2 — Braden Thornberry, Ole Miss — 9-under
T5 — Rico Hoey, Southern Cal — 8-under
T5 — Kyler Tate, UCF — 8-under
TV Coverage:
Golf Channel NCAA Men’s Golf Championships Coverage (all times ET)
Monday, May 29
Individual National Championship
4-8 p.m. (Live)
Tuesday, May 30
Quarterfinals, Team Match Play
11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. (Live)
Tuesday, May 30
Semifinals, Team Match Play
4-8 p.m. (Live)
Wednesday, May 31
Team Match Play National Championship
4-8 p.m. (Live)
