OU, OSU advance to match play finals

Oklahoma and Oklahoma State both outlasted difficult course conditions Monday to advance to the match play stage at the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship.

OU finished stroke play second at 1-under-par, and OSU finished fourth at 3-over. With the top eight teams advancing to match play, OU and OSU comfortably qualified ahead of ninth place LSU at 9-over.

The match play quarterfinals and semifinals will be played Tuesday. Oklahoma will play Baylor in the quarterfinals with the winner facing the Illinois-USC winner in the semifinals. Oklahoma State will play Oregon, the defending national champions, in the quarterfinals with the winner facing the Vanderbilt-UNLV winner.

The Rich Harvest Farms course in Sugar Grove, Ill. proved to be challenging Monday. Only three of the 84 players shot under-par. OSU shot 15-over and yet was tied for the third-best Monday team score.

Viktor Hovland was the highest placing OSU golfer. He finished 3-under and finished tied for eighth.

Blaine Hale led the Sooners as he finished tied for 11th at 2-under.

Ole Miss’s Braden Thornberry won the individual title Monday. He shot 11-under for the tournament, four strokes better than Arkansas’ Mason Overstreet in second place. Overstreet, a freshman, is a Kingfisher native.