Top amateur golf moments of 2018, No. 8: Orange Crush
12/14/2018 | by AmateurGolf.com Staff
see also: NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship, La Costa Resort and Spa - Champions Course
Golf has never seen an atmosphere like it: waves of raucous, orange-clad fans generating the ultimate home-course advantage.
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Inside the college golf world, Karsten Creek – Oklahoma State’s out-in-nature playground where champions are clearly honed – is a little bit famous. It takes years of success and a strong pipeline to the PGA Tour to build the foundation that Oklahoma State has built in men’s golf (and of course a reality TV show doesn’t hurt, as the Golf Channel produced this past year to showcase the Cowboys and their rivalry with Oklahoma).
Past the setting and the score, Oklahoma’s national title was also notable because it marked the first time that the No. 1 match-play seed won the NCAA Championship, the first time Oklahoma State had won at its home course and the first time the Cowboys had claimed a national title since the match-play format was instituted in 2009. It was also the first 5-0 sweep in the match-play era.
The Cowboys won 10 times in the regular season, including seven in a row. They had two first-team All-Americans on the roster (Matthew Wolff and Viktor Hovland, who later in the year would win the U.S. Amateur) and four of the nation’s top 35 players, including three of the top 15. Anything less than a victory would have been a crushing blow for college golf’s powerhouse program.
When asked earlier in the week if the team felt pressure because of the high expectations and passionate home fans hungry for a national championship, Cowboy junior Zach Bauchou confidently said, “I don’t think there’s any pressure when you’re as good as we are throughout the lineup.”
And with that, what’s left to say? Oklahoma State ended its fall with a 32-shot win at the Royal Oaks Intercollegiate for one of two fall titles. Now we await the run for a repeat.
About the NCAA Division I Championship
The NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship is the pinnacle of collegiate golf in the United States, held annually in late May or early June. The event brings together the nation's top 30 teams and six individual qualifiers, all of whom have advanced...
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