NCAA Men's Golf Championships 2017: Oklahoma Defeats Oregon to Win Title
For the second time in school history, the Oklahoma Sooners have won the NCAA men's golf championship with a 3-1-1 victory over the Oregon Ducks on Wednesday.
2017 NCAA Golf Championship Results
Blaine Hale (Oklahoma) def. Norman Xiong (Oregon), 4-and-3
Max McGreevy (Oklahoma) def. Edwin Yi (Oregon), 3-and-2
Wyndham Clark (Oregon) def. Rylee Reinerston (Oklahoma), 1-up
Grant Hirschman (Oklahoma) A/S Ryan Gronlund (Oregon)
Brad Dalke (Oklahoma) def. Sulman Raza (Oregon), 2-and-1
After taking a 2-0 lead on the back of Blaine Hale and Max McGreevy, the Sooners were pushed to the limit by the defending national champions. Wyndham Clark gave Oregon life with a victory in his match, setting the stage for Oklahoma's Brad Dalke vs. Oregon's Sulman Raza.
Dalke took control of things coming off No. 11 with things all square. He proceeded to best Raza three of the four next holes to go 3-up with three to play.
Raza proceeded to hit his tee shot on No. 16 into the bunker, putting the Ducks' backs up against the wall if they wanted any chance of continuing their quest for a second straight national title. He was able to salvage things with an eight-foot putt to win the hole and go to No. 17 trailing by two, via Golf Channel:
Dalke had a second chance to put the Sooners over the top. He had two putts from just inside 20 feet on the 17th hole to do it in a moment that the Golf Channel's Ryan Lavner noted would carry a lot of extra meaning for the sophomore:
In the face of that pressure, Dalke was able to calm his nerves long enough to put the ball in the cup to clinch the national title for the Sooners, via Golf Channel:
This was a year in which Oregon was supposed to be going through a rebuilding phase with Yi and Xiong playing integral roles as underclassmen. Even making it to the championship match was an accomplishment, but that youth did show against an Oklahoma team on a mission.
Wednesday's victory in the national championship match was Oklahoma's first tournament win of any kind since the Lone Star Invitational on March 20-21.
The Sooners came into the tournament as a No. 3 seed and finished fourth in the Stanford regional to earn a spot in the finals. Wins over Baylor and Illinois set the stage for the program to end its 28-year-old title drought, capped off by hometown hero Dalke sealing the win.
