Matthew Wolff of defending national champion Oklahoma State struggled for the first nine holes of stroke play in the NCAA Division I Men’s Championships, but in the end he was on top of the heap.
Wolff, a sophomore from Agoura Hills, Calif., who played at Westlake High, won the national individual championship by five strokes over Steven Fish of Georgia Southern and helped the Cowboys take the team stroke-play title by 31 strokes over Vanderbilt at Blessings Golf Club https://arkansasrazorback.comthe-blessings-golf-club in Fayetteville, Ark.
“These are the best amateurs in the world, so to come out on top is something special,” said Wolff, who claimed his sixth victory of the season. “This obviously is the biggest tournament I’ve won individually so far. I found something in my game and I was confident coming into this week. I stayed confident despite the slow start.
“But this is all about the team championship and there is still work to be done the next few days for us to get his done. I want to do my part and help us to win this championship again.”
Wolff, who was an All-American and earned the Phil Mickelson Award as the best freshman in the nation a year ago, posted a score of 73-66-70-69—278, 10-under-par, followed by Fisk at 76-68-68-71—283, and Chun An Yu of Arizona State at 69-74-70-72—285.
Justin Suh of USC shot 71-75-68-72—286 to tie for fourth with Lee Detmer of Wake Forest, who wound up at 72-74-71-69—286, while Collin Morikawa of California finished at 67-72-76-73—288 to tie for sixth with Isaiah Salinda of Stanford, who totaled 70-70-74-74—288.
Trent Phillips of Georgia finished at 73-71-77-68—289 to tie for eighth with Zach Bauchou of Oklahoma State, who wound up at 73-71-70-75—289, and Austin Eckroat of Oklahoma State, who came in at 69-69-73-78—289.
Oklahoma State earned the top seed among the eight teams that advanced to match play that will determine the NCAA champion with a score of 290-276-286-284—1136, 16-under, followed by Vanderbilt at 307-288-287-285—1167, Wake Forest at 296-297-288-291—1172 and Texas at 298-290-289-303—1180.
Oklahoma was fifth at 305-287-288-300—1180, followed by Stanford at 291-287-299-312—1189 and Texas A&M at 296-287-301-308—1192.
SMU totaled 308-293-292-303—1196 to tie for eighth with Clemson, which finished at 302-292-298-304—1196, and the Mustangs advanced to match play in a one-hole playoff.
In the match-play quarterfinals, Oklahoma State will face SMU, Oklahoma meets Texas, Vanderbilt goes against Texas A&M, and Stanford takes on Wake Forest.
Failing to qualify for match play were Cal in 10th at 292-301-306-298—1197, Pepperdine in 13th at 312-291-293-303—1199 and USC in 14th at 304-304-292-302—1202.
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