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OU Golf: Oklahoma Advances to Match Play, Set for Bedlam Quarterfinal

The Sooners and Cowboys enter Tuesday's Match Play Round at the NCAA Championships looking for another crown.

John E. Hoover

Oklahoma golfer Drew Goodman
Oklahoma golfer Drew Goodman / NATHAN J. FISH/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK

By OU Media Relations

CARLSBAD, CA – For the seventh time since 2016, Oklahoma men's golf has advanced to match play at the NCAA Championships, the most of any program during that span.

The sixth-ranked Sooners (5, E) completed 72 holes of stroke play at even par, posting a 1,152 total at the par-72, 7,480-yard North Course at Omni La Costa. OU earned the No. 5 seed and will face fourth-seeded No. 2 Oklahoma State in Tuesday morning's quarterfinal.

"We're excited to be in match play and competing for a national championship," said 16th year head coach Ryan Hybl. "We had some really good moments over the last four days and a few we'd probably like to have back. But at the end of the day, what matters is being one of the eight teams with a shot to win it all, and we did enough to give ourselves that chance. We'll be ready for a battle tomorrow against a really talented Oklahoma State team and look forward to competing."

The matchup marks the first time the in-state rivals have met in NCAA match play. Oklahoma is 2-4 all-time in the quarterfinal round and last appeared in 2022. A win would send the Sooners to Tuesday afternoon's semifinal to face either top-seeded Arizona State or eighth-seeded Ole Miss. The championship match is slated for Wednesday afternoon.

Two Sooners, Clark Van Gaalen and Drew Goodman, landed on the NCAA All-Tournament team with top-15 finishes in stroke play.

Van Gaalen (T13, -2) was in the hunt for the individual national title heading into Monday's final round but carded a 75 (+3) to fall slightly down the board. He was still one of just two freshmen to finish inside the top 15. The Turlock, Calif., native is 0-1-0 in his collegiate match play career.

Goodman (T15, -1) closed his collegiate stroke play career with a 71 (-1), tying for 15th and securing the best NCAA finish of his career. With match play not counting toward career statistics, he ends stroke play as OU's all-time leader in par-or-better rounds with 96, ranks second in scoring average vs. par (-0.31) and his 154 rounds played are the third most in program history. He enters Tuesday with an 11-8-1 career match play record, including a 1-0-0 mark at the NCAA Championships after winning his quarterfinal match in 2022.

Sophomore Ryder Cowan (T22, +1) fired a 73 (+1) in the final round after opening with three bogeys. He birdied the 10th to get back to 1-over on the day and parred out on holes 11 through 18. The Edmond, Okla., product is 5-1-1 in match play and will make his NCAA match play debut tomorrow.

Jase Summy (T50, +6) tied for 50th but will look to make an impact in match play, where the junior and All-SEC first-team honoree owns a 7-2-2 record.

PJ Maybank III (T60, +9) shot a steady 73 (+1) on Monday to help the Sooners clinch a top-eight spot and finish tied for 60th.

Arizona State (-14) won the stroke play portion of the championship and will face No. 8 seed Ole Miss. Top-ranked Auburn finished second and will take on seventh-seeded Virginia, while third-place Florida meets sixth-seeded Texas. All seven top-ranked teams in the national rankings advanced, with 10th-ranked Virginia the lone team outside the top eight.

Ole Miss' Michael La Sasso claimed the individual national championship at 11-under par, sinking a clutch par putt on the 72nd hole to secure the Rebels' spot in match play.

Tuesday's Bedlam quarterfinal tees off at 9:40 a.m. CT when PJ Maybank III faces Filip Fahlberg-Johnsson. Drew Goodman and Ethan Fang follow at 9:50 a.m., then Jase Summy and Preston Stout square off at 10 a.m. Ryder Cowan and Gaven Lane begin at 10:10 a.m., with the anchor match between Clark Van Gaalen and Eric Lee starting at 10:20 a.m.

Golf Channel will provide live coverage beginning at noon CT for the quarterfinals and from 5–9 p.m. CT for the semifinals. Live scoring is available via Scoreboard by Clippd.

MATCH PLAY BRACKET

(1) No. 5 Arizona State vs. (8) No. 3 Ole Miss
(4) No. 2 Oklahoma State vs. (5) No. 6 Oklahoma

(2) No. 1 Auburn vs. (7) No. 10 Virginia
(3) No. 7 Florida vs. (6) No. 4 Texas

Published
John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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