Talor Gooch
HUTCHISON, Kan. (May 27, 2014) -- Two teams remain after a wild day of match play at the 2014 NCAA Men's Golf Championship at Prairie Dunes.
Oklahoma State and Alabama remain after winning two team matches on the first day of match play following the weekend's stroke-play portion of the event.
In the morning quarterfinal matches, top-seeded Stanford slipped past No. 8 Illinois. Patrick Rodgers (3-and-2), Viraat Badhwar (1-up) and individual champion Cameron Wilson (1-up) all won for the Cardinal, who survived a valiant effort from the Illini, who came into the match as one of the nation's hottest teams.
Stanford would go on to face No. 4 Oklahoma State -- big winners over Georgia Tech in the morning action. For the Cowboys, Talor Gooch (2-and-1), Zach Olsen (1-up), Wyndham Clark (1-up) and Jordan Niebrugge (2-and-1) won, stopiing Georgia Tech's impressive run through the second half of the season and postseason.
Second-seeded Alabama knocked off No. 7 SMU, 3-2. The Tide rolled on the strength of sound victories by Bobby Wyatt (3-and-2), Robby Shelton (2-up) and Cory Whitsett (5-and-4).
The final semifinalist moving on after the morning matches was LSU. The Tigers beat UCLA 4-1 thanks to wins from Curtis Thompson (1-up), Ben Taylor (4-and-3), Smylie Kaufman (2-up) and Zach Wright (2-and-1).
In the semifinals, Alabama toppled LSU by a score of 4-1. In the win, Bobby Wyatt beat Benjamin Taylor, 3-and-2, while Trey Mullinax bounced back from his quarterfinals loss with a big win over LSU's Curtis Thompson, 4-and-2.
Robby Shelton stayed hot, too. A day after placing third in the individual race, the freshman won his second match, beating LSU's Stuart Jolly, 2-and-1.
Tom Lovelady was the final Alabama golfer to win. he beat Smylie Kaufman, 1-up.
The semifinal victory for Alabama set up a highly-anticpated team championship match against Oklahoma State, which survived a thriller over No. 1 Stanford late in Tuesday's action.
Talor Gooch won a pivotal match for the Cowboys, knocking off Stanford's Maverick McNealy on the third playoff hole.
Stanford's two stars -- Wilson and Patrick Rodgers -- kept the Cardinal in the match. Wilson stayed hot with a 4-and-2 victory while Rodgers, the recent Hogan Award winner and world's No. 1 player, edged Oklahoma State star at former Walker Cup teammate Jordan Niebrugge, 2-and-1.
In the end, though, it was Oklahoma State's depth that allowed the Cowboys to prevail. Wyndham Clark was a 1-up winner over Stanford's Viraat Badhwar while Zachary Olsen kept the red-hot David Boote at bay with a 3-and-2 defeat.
It all sets up what's sure to be a memorable finish Wednesday as Alabama and Oklahoma State square off for the NCAA Championship.
ABOUT THE NCAA Division I Championship
30 teams and 6 individuals not on a qualifying
team make up the field for the championship of
NCAA
Division I women's golf.
After 72 holes of stroke play, the individual
champion is crowned, and the low 8 teams advance
to
match play to determine the team champion.
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