Cowboys Topple Stanford To Advance At NCAA Championship
OOLTEWAH, Tenn. – Oklahoma State’s men’s golf team rode a pair of impressive
individual performances to a 4-1 victory over Stanford on Friday at the
Championship during the first round of match play at The Honors Course.
The Cowboys entered match play as the No. 1 seed for the second-straight
year and were able to win the battle of programs that have combined to win
18 national championships.
“We had a tough opponent today. Stanford is one of the best team in the
country year in and year out,” head coach Mike McGraw said. “They have
the best coach in the country. Conrad (Ray) is a great former player and
great coach. They are also a great bunch of kids.”
Redshirt freshman Sean Einhaus provided the first team point, cruising to a
5-and-4 victory over Joseph Bramlett that saw him lead from start to finish.
“Sean got out on it pretty early, which was important for him. He had a
tough stroke play portion of the tournament. He came back pretty well today,
and looked like he was swinging pretty freely. Every time Joseph did
something, Sean was able to counter him,” McGraw said.
Einhaus birdied the first two holes to take a quick 2-up lead and never
looked back. The Borken, Germany native parred the fourth hole to extend to
a 3-up margin before going birdie-par on Nos. 6 and 7 to push the advantage
to five.
Bramlett won his first hole of the day at the 10th, but Einhaus answered at
the 11th. After Bramlett won the 12th, the Cowboy rookie responded again
with a birdie at the 13th before closing the match out with a par at the
14th.
Point No. 2 came courtesy of junior Kevin Tway’s 5-and-4 triumph over Sihwan
Kim. Unlike Einhaus, Tway fell 2-down through two holes after Kim’s
birdie-birdie start. However, after winning the fifth, Tway won three of the
next four holes with birdies at Nos. 6, 7 and 9 to take a 2-up lead.
The Edmond, Okla., native added birdies at the 11th and 12th to cushion his
lead and closed out the match with a win at the 13th before halving the 14th
hole.
Senior Trent Whitekiller would provide the clinching point, but not without
some drama. The Sallisaw, Okla., native lost the first two holes of his
match against Andrew Yun and fell to 3-down through five before he started
to chip away at his deficit.
Whitekiller won the seventh and the ninth to draw back within one before
getting back to all square with a birdie at the 12th. He would go on to par
the next two holes to take a 2-up lead of his own. Yun cut the margin in
half with a birdie at the par-3 16th before the duo halved the 17th.
With one hole remaining, the players were called off the course due to a
weather delay. After waiting out the weather, Whitekiller halved the 18th
with a par to send the Cowboys into tomorrow¹s semifinal round against
Oregon.
“I had a good shot off my drive, and wanted to hit it on the green and two
putt to force him (Yun) to make a birdie. He had a good putt, and lucky for
me it didn’t go in. I knew I just had to cozy it on down there to make a par
and be done,” Whitekiller said.
Sophomore Morgan Hoffmann provided the squad¹s fourth point with a 1-up win
over Steve Ziegler. Hoffmann trailed for the majority of the match,
including a 3-up deficit through eight holes. However, the Wyckoff, N.J.,
native clawed back, squaring the match on three separate occasions.
After drawing even for the third time with a birdie at the 15th, Hoffmann
took his first lead of the day with a par at the 17th before closing the
match by halving the closing hole.
Stanford’s lone tally of the day came courtesy of David Chung’s 1-up win
over Peter Uihlein. Uihlein got on the board first with wins at the fourth
and fifth before Chung answered with wins at Nos. 6 and 8.
After making the turn, Chung quickly built a 2-up lead of his own by taking
the 10th and 11th holes. Uihlein¹s birdies at the 14th and 17th got him back
to square with one hole remaining before Chung¹s par sealed the victory.
The Cowboys and Ducks will square off tomorrow at 9 a.m. () for a berth
in Sunday¹s championship match.
Updated 06-07-2010
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