Oklahoma Sooners Golf: BOOMER! OU Golf Wins National Championship

The Oklahoma Sooners defeated the Oregon Ducks in a dramatic match play victory at Rich Harvest Farms on Wednesday, capturing the team’s first national championship since 1989.

Brad Dalke played the hero on the day, overcoming Sulman Raza on the back nine and putting him away on the 17th to clinch the deciding match for the Sooners. Raza sunk the winning putt in last year’s national championship from Eugene, handing the Ducks a title, but a repeat was not in the cards for Oregon as Ryan Hybl’s Sooners outdueled the UO five.

Blaine Hale and Max McGreevy set the tone early for Oklahoma by winning 4&3 and 3&2, respectively, over Norman Xiong and Edwin Yi. While Rylee Reinertson and Grant Hirschmann were able to keep their opponents close, neither able to ultimately take their game and had to rely on Dalke to maintain his back-nine lead over Raza.

Dalke almost won the title on the 16th hole, earning a six-foot putt for all the marbles. But his putt went just wide and Raza was able to sink a clutch 10-footer to at least extend the match by one hole.

Raza undid himself on the 17th, though, finding the rough off the tee and unable to recover before Dalke two-putted to a bogey, halving the hole for OU and clinching the title.

The win marks the first time Oklahoma has won a title since the tournament moved to match play. The Sooners overcame Baylor in the quarterfinals and Illinois (on its home-state course) in the semis to earn the final round berth.

Golf becomes just the latest OU title in 2016-17, joining men’s and women’s gymnastics and men’s doubles tennis. The OU softball and baseball teams continue playoff runs later this week.