Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State University
NCAA Championship
Cowboys March On At NCAA Championship
June 05, 2010 | Cowboy Golf
June 5, 2010
OOLTEWAH, Tenn. - Oklahoma State's men's golf team will vie for its 11th national championship tomorrow after knocking off Oregon, 3.5-1.5, during its semifinal match at the NCAA Championship on Saturday at The Honors Course.
The Ducks got on the board first with Jack Dukeminier earning a 4-and-3 victory over redshirt freshman Sean Einhaus. Dukeminier won the first hole with a birdie before Einhaus drew even two holes later. However, Dukeminier won the next two and would not trail again. After losing the seventh and eighth, Einhaus scratched back with wins at Nos. 9 and 11 to cut the deficit in half, but Dukeminier claimed the next two holes before clinching the team point with a win at the 15th.
The Cowboys drew even with a 5-and-4 triumph courtesy of Trent Whitekiller over Isaiah Telles. The OSU senior blitzed Telles with seven-straight wins to open the match. The Sallisaw, Okla., native got off to a birdie-eagle start and never looked back, making the turn with a 5-up lead despite Telles' wins at the eighth and ninth.
Whitekiller started the inward nine with a pair of birdies to push the margin back to seven and closed the match by halving the 14th with his seventh birdie of the day.
"I am looking back there, and thinking, 'Wow, what is going on!' I have hit the ball like that all season, just have not had that much luck, which has held me back," Whitekiller said. "When you have a day when you are throwing it in from all over the green and getting the ball close to the hole, you are going to have a pretty good result."
With three matches remaining, the players were called off the course for the second-straight day due to a weather delay, which lasted nearly two hours.
"You try to get some momentum. It seemed all the guys were playing well early," OSU head coach Mike McGraw said. "Then, our momentum was kind of stopped by the rain delay. I wasn't prepared for that. It was tied one-to-one at that point, and all the matches on the course left were pivotal. I am thankful that we were able to come out on top."
Sophomore Peter Uihlein clinched OSU's second point of the match with a 3-and-2 win over Daniel Miernicki in which he never trailed. After halving the first, Uihlein birdied the par-5 second and extended to a 2-up lead at the fourth. After Miernicki took the seventh with a par, the duo halved the next four holes before Uihlein moved back to 2-up with a par at the 12th. After halving the next three holes, Uihlein clinched the match with a par at the 16th.
Sophomore Morgan Hoffmann sent the Cowboys into Sunday's championship match with a 3-and-2 victory of his own, defeating Eugene Wong. The duo played a tight front nine that saw Wong lead twice, Hoffmann once and the match go back to all square three different times.
After Wong took a 1-up lead with a birdie at the sixth, Hoffmann answered with birdies at the eighth and ninth to make the turn with a lead he would not surrender. After his third-straight birdie at the 10th gave him a 2-up advantage, Hoffmann halved the next four holes before winning the 15th. The Wyckoff, N.J., native closed the match on the next hole, halving it with a par.
Junior Kevin Tway halved his match with Andrew Vijarro in the fifth match between the two schools. Tway won the first two holes with birdies and seemingly had control of the match after winning Nos. 6, 7 and 9 to turn with a 4-up lead. However, Vijarro chipped away on the back nine with wins at 11, 13, 14 and 15 to draw even. He followed with a par at the 16th to take his first lead of the day.
Tway bounced back with a birdie at the 17th to square the match before the players halved the closing 18th hole with pars.
The Cowboys will take on Augusta State, which knocked off Florida State in its semifinal match, tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. (EST) in the championship match at the par-72, 7,395-yard layout.
"Each one of the individuals has to deal with the expectations, and how each one deals with it will determine how we compete as a team," McGraw said. "They understand the expectations are high, and I understood when I took over (as head coach)."
Players Mentioned
