Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State University
NCAA Championship
Cowboys Fall In NCAA Semifinals
June 04, 2011 | Cowboy Golf
June 4, 2011
STILLWATER, Okla. - Oklahoma State's men's golf team saw its season come to an end on Saturday with a 3-2 loss to Augusta State in the semifinal round of the NCAA Men's Golf Championships at Karsten Creek.
The battle between the third-seeded Cowboys the No. 7 seed Jaguars moved back and forth all day in front of a massive orange and black contingent of fans before finally needing an extra hole to decide the outcome.
"I like winning. I don't like losing, so that's pretty much the gist of it," OSU head coach Mike McGraw said. "But in golf, you lose a lot and in life you lose a lot, you just deal with it, and hopefully you learn a good lesson about yourself. If our kids will look inside themselves, and truly look inside, they'll find some answers that are going to make them a lot better."
The match came down to a battle between OSU sophomore Sean Einhaus and ASU's Carter Newman. Newman won the first hole and led for eight of the nine holes on the front side before Einhaus squared the match at the 10th. Newman regained the lead at the 12th and held a 1-up lead through 15. Einhaus squared the match again at the 16th after playing a remarkable shot from a tough lie in the trees down the left side of the fairway to save a bogey and go back to all square.
At the 17th, Einhaus found the fairway of the tee and hit the green in regulation before two putting for par. Newman's drive found the right rough and he was only able to advance his second shot to the right rough again, leaving a 100 yards into the green. His third left him a 20-foot putt that he promptly sunk to send the match to the par-5 18th. Newman chipped his third shot to five feet, while Einhaus' third from a greenside bunker left him 15 feet for his birdie opportunity. He answered Newman's putt with one of his own followed by a fist pump and a roar from the crowd to send the match back to the 14th hole.
"Carter Newman has got a lot of guts. That guy is a gritty competitor; played really, really well. He did that kind of stuff last year as well. Sean showed me a lot. I'm really, really looking forward to having Sean back next year," McGraw said.
Newman once again chipped up and left himself a five-foot putt that he rolled in to send ASU into the championship match tomorrow afternoon against Georgia.
OSU freshman Talor Gooch made quick work of Olle Bengtsson, winning 7 and 5, to put OSU's first point on the board. Leading by three, Gooch won Nos. 8, 9 and 10 to take a commanding 6-up lead before closing out the match on the 13th with a birdie.
"Talor Gooch is kind of an unusual kid; he's calm inside and out. He may be churning inside, but you can never tell it. He played as well as I've seen him play. In the post-season, he knocked it out of the ballpark. He played really, really well," McGraw said.
Junior Morgan Hoffmann battled back and forth all day with Mitchell Krywulycz before finally pulling off a 1-up victory to provide the squad's second point.
ASU's Henrik Norlander knocked off OSU senior Kevin Tway 3 and 1, while Patrick Reed made six birdies over his first eleven holes en route to an 8-and-7 win over junior Peter Uihlein.
