Cowboys Take First in Stroke Play at NCAA Championships

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Alan Bratton Interview

STILLWATER – The Oklahoma State men's golf team finished the final round of stroke play at the NCAA Championships atop the team leaderboard Monday afternoon, clinching to No. 1 seed for match play.

It marked the 10^th stroke play tournament victory of the year for the Pokes and the 13^th time in program history that OSU has finished first in stroke play at the championship.

"The first part is done," head coach Alan Bratton said. "Whatever the score was -- again, the conditions dictate things out here. You never know what a good score is. Our goal is just to be the lowest one, whatever that added up to, and we got that done, but the tournament starts over tomorrow, so we'll be ready for the first tee shot. We'll focus on that now and get ready for the first tee ball tomorrow."

The Cowboys will take on No. 8 seed Texas A&M in the match play quarterfinals on Tuesday morning. The two teams will tee off from the first hole at 7:50 a.m.

"We've played with them quite a few times," Bratton said. "We've played with them, I believe, at the Floridian and at their home tournament. We've probably played with them somewhere else, too. We're very familiar. Obviously I'm familiar with the university. I'm from College Station. That will be a good matchup. They've had a good year, and we'll need to be on our game, but I promise you we'll be ready."

The par-72, 7,460-yard course at Karsten Creek Golf Club beared its teeth on Monday, with each of the 15 teams remaining in the field at least 5-over par for the round. The Cowboys shot the third-lowest score on the course in the fourth and final round with a 7-over 295 and ended up at even par for the tournament.

The only school not over par in stroke play, OSU finished eight strokes ahead of second-place Duke. Texas Tech finished third at 9-over, while Oklahoma took fourth at 11-over. Augusta junior Broc Everett finished at 7-under and won a playoff to secure individual NCAA Champion honors.

Freshman Matthew Wolff finished tied for seventh overall in the individual race at 3-under for the tournament after an even 72 in his final round. Senior Kristoffer Ventura finished tied for 48^th, also shooting a fourth-round 72.

Viktor Hovland overcame a tough showing on the front nine on which he carded two bogeys and two doubles to get to the turn at 5-over. The Cowboy sophomore responded with a trio of birdies on the back to finish with a 75 and tie himself for 11^th at 1-under overall.

"I got off to a good start on one making a birdie," Hovland said. "That hole is playing long into the wind. I hit some good shots and got off to a good start, but then made some mistakes in the middle of the front nine and couldn't really get out of it. It seemed like the bad shots just kept pouring on. So I was 5-over through seven, and I managed to just keep it together and shoot 2-under from there on in. It ended up not being a terrible round, but it's good to be done with the stroke play. We won the stroke play portion. We're headed into the match play with some confidence, and hopefully we can get some wins."

Freshman Austin Eckroat shot over par for the first time this weekend with a 4-over 76. He finished tied for 19^th at 1-over.

Junior Zach Bauchou finished tied for 52^nd at 11-over after a 4-over 76 on Monday.

Fans can watch the action on Tuesday live on Golf Channel, or follow live scoring on golfstat.com.

Team Scores
1. Oklahoma State – 287-285-285-295 = 1152(E)
2. Duke – 291-287-276-306 = 1160(+8)
3. Texas Tech – 284-287-290-300 = 1161(+9)
4. Oklahoma – 285-293-290-295 = 1163(+11)
5. Auburn – 300-280-290-297 = 1167(+15)

Player Scores
T7. Matthew Wolff – 71-73-69-72 = 285(-3)
T11. Viktor Hovland – 73-71-68-75 = 287(-1)
T19. Austin Eckroat – 71-70-72-76 = 289(+1)
T48. Kristoffer Ventura – 72-77-76-72 = 299(+9)
T52. Zach Bauchou – 75-71-77-76 = 299(+11)

Oklahoma State University Athletics

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Zach Bauchou

Austin Eckroat

Viktor Hovland

Kristoffer Ventura

Matthew Wolff

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