Oklahoma State Faces Oregon in Match Play at NCAAs

Oklahoma State survived the stroke play portion of the NCAA Championships over the weekend by firing a 3-over 1,155 over four rounds to get into the eight-team match play round for the first time since 2014. The Cowboys finished fourth and will face the Oregon Ducks which finished fifth with a score of 1,158.

If they’re able to move on, OSU would face the winner of the Vanderbilt-UNLV matchup. Both matches start at 7:50 a.m. on Friday. Regardless of how it goes from here, though, it’s been a successful first four days for the Pokes at the NCAAs. They did what they needed to do, and even though they didn’t have anybody better than T8 in the individual play, they now become a dangerous team to play in the knockout stage.

The reason? From golfer No. 1 to No. 5, they’re the deepest team in the field. Nobody in their starting lineup is ranked outside the top 65 in the Sagarin rankings, something none of the other 30 teams this week could say.

No matter the outcome of tomorrow's #okstate match, the Pokes are guaranteed a top-five #NCAAGolf finish… their 53rd in 70 appearances.

— Ryan Cameron (@ryancameron24) May 30, 2017

Oregon, for example, only has two players ranked inside the top 100. Of course one of those is the No. 1 college golfer in the country (and No. 20 amateur golfer in the world) Wyndham Clark. Does that name sound familiar? It should.

Clark spent his first four years in Stillwater before transferring to Oregon. He’ll square off with low man for the Pokes in the stroke play Viktor Hovland.

#okstate – Oregon tomorrow at 7:50 a.m.
Hovland vs. Clark
Ventura vs. Yi
Olsen vs. Xiong
Bauchou vs. Gronlund
Wood vs. Raza

— Oklahoma State Golf (@OSUCowboyGolf) May 30, 2017

Golf Channel coverage starts at 10 a.m., and you can follow along on Golf Stat as OSU goes for NCAA title No. 11. The Pokes have not won one of these since the format went to match play in 2009.

#okstate in #NCAAGolf match play.
2009 — (No. 1) 0-1 (T5)
2010 — (No. 1) 2-1 (2nd)
2011 — (No. 3) 1-1 (T3)
2014 — (No. 4) 2-1 (2nd) pic.twitter.com/fExAIqqiMX

— Oklahoma State Golf (@OSUCowboyGolf) May 30, 2017