Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State University
NCAA Championship
Cowboys Topple Stanford To Advance
June 04, 2010 | Cowboy Golf
June 4, 2010
OOLTEWAH, Tenn. - Oklahoma State's men's golf team rode a pair of impressive individual performances to a 4-1 victory over Stanford on Friday at the NCAA Championship during the first round of match play at The Honors Course.
The Cowboys entered match play as the No. 1 seed for the second-straight year and were able to win the battle of programs that have combined to win 18 national championships.
"We had a tough opponent today. Stanford is one of the best team in the country year in and year out," OSU head coach Mike McGraw said. "They have the best coach in the country. Conrad (Ray) is a great former player and great coach. They are also a great bunch of kids."
Redshirt freshman Sean Einhaus provided the first team point, cruising to a 5-and-4 victory over Joseph Bramlett that saw him lead from start to finish.
"Sean got out on it pretty early, which was important for him. He had a tough stroke play portion of the tournament. He came back pretty well today, and looked like he was swinging pretty freely. Every time Joseph did something, Sean was able to counter him," McGraw said.
Einhaus birdied the first two holes to take a quick 2-up lead and never looked back. The Borken, Germany native parred the fourth hole to extend to a 3-up margin before going birdie-par on Nos. 6 and 7 to push the advantage to five.
Bramlett won his first hole of the day at the 10th, but Einhaus answered at the 11th. After Bramlett won the 12th, the Cowboy rookie responded again with a birdie at the 13th before closing the match out with a par at the 14th.
Point No. 2 came courtesy of junior Kevin Tway's 5-and-4 triumph over Sihwan Kim. Unlike Einhaus, Tway fell 2-down through two holes after Kim's birdie-birdie start. However, after winning the fifth, Tway won three of the next four holes with birdies at Nos. 6, 7 and 9 to take a 2-up lead.
The Edmond, Okla., native added birdies at the 11th and 12th to cushion his lead and closed out the match with a win at the 13th before halving the 14th hole.
Senior Trent Whitekiller would provide the clinching point, but not without some drama. The Sallisaw, Okla., native lost the first two holes of his match against Andrew Yun and fell to 3-down through five before he started to chip away at his deficit.
Whitekiller won the seventh and the ninth to draw back within one before getting back to all square with a birdie at the 12th. He would go on to par the next two holes to take a 2-up lead of his own. Yun cut the margin in half with a birdie at the par-3 16th before the duo halved the 17th.
With one hole remaining, the players were called off the course due to a weather delay. After waiting out the weather, Whitekiller halved the 18th with a par to send the Cowboys into tomorrow's semifinal round against Oregon.
"I had a good shot off my drive, and wanted to hit it on the green and two putt to force him (Yun) to make a birdie. He had a good putt, and lucky for me it didn't go in. I knew I just had to cozy it on down there to make a par and be done," Whitekiller said.
Sophomore Morgan Hoffmann provided the squad's fourth point with a 1-up win over Steve Ziegler. Hoffmann trailed for the majority of the match, including a 3-up deficit through eight holes. However, the Wyckoff, N.J., native clawed back, squaring the match on three separate occasions.
After drawing even for the third time with a birdie at the 15th, Hoffmann took his first lead of the day with a par at the 17th before closing the match by halving the closing hole.
Stanford's lone tally of the day came courtesy of David Chung's 1-up win over Peter Uihlein. Uihlein got on the board first with wins at the fourth and fifth before Chung answered with wins at Nos. 6 and 8.
After making the turn, Chung quickly built a 2-up lead of his own by taking the 10th and 11th holes. Uihlein's birdies at the 14th and 17th got him back to square with one hole remaining before Chung's par sealed the victory.
The Cowboys and Ducks will square off tomorrow at 9 a.m. (EST) for a berth in Sunday's championship match.
Players Mentioned
