Oklahoma falls to Auburn, 3-2, in NCAA Men’s Golf Championship quarterfinal

It came down to the wire at Stillwater’s Karsten Creek Golf Club, but the reigning national champion Oklahoma Sooners came up a little short in match play of the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship, losing three of the five individual matches against the Auburn Tigers. The Tigers advance to the semifinals to play the hosting No. 1 seeded Oklahoma State later today, while the Sooners’ 2018 season has officially come to an end.

Final Match Play Results

Oklahoma’s Blaine Hale matched up with Auburn’s Jovan Rebula to get things started early in the morning, with Hale ultimately prevailing over Rebula 4&3. Quade Cummins was involved in what would prove to be the match to watch between the programs, and unfortunately for Oklahoma he lost a 1UP nail-biter to Auburn’s Trace Crowe. Garett Reband and Grant Hirschman fell to Ben Schlottman and Brandon Mancheno 5&4 and 3&1, respectively. OU’s Brad Dalke joined Hale as the only Sooner to claim a victory in his individual match over Wells Padgett with a decisive final margin of 4&3.

The 2018 season didn’t end with Oklahoma hoisting another national championship trophy like last year, but it was still another great season on the course for the Sooners overall. Hirschman is the only senior out of the group that played in this tournament, so Oklahoma could conceivably return to this stage with guys like Dalke and Hale leading the way.

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