FAYETTEVILLE -- Oklahoma State is the clear favorite to repeat as NCAA men's golf champions at Blessings Golf Club over the next six days after going wire to wire last year.
The No. 1 Cowboys won the stroke play portion at last year's championships on their home course at Karsten Creek Golf Club, then capped their match play victory with a 5-0 win over sixth-seed Alabama to claim their 11th title.
At a glance
Where Blessings Golf Club, Fayetteville
When Today through Wednesday
Course Par 72, 7,550 yards
Format Three rounds of stroke play, field cut to 15 teams; fourth round of stroke play on Monday to determine medalist and field cut to eight teams for match play
NCAA regional winners No. 1 Oklahoma State, No. 5 Texas, No. 10 Stanford, No. 14 Georgia, No. 17 Texas A&M, No. 24 Illinois
Top 10 teams 1. Oklahoma State, 2. Arizona State, 3. Wake Forest, 4. Vanderbilt, 5. Texas, 6. Oklahoma, 7. Georgia Tech, 8. Duke, No. 9 Southern California, No. 10 Stanford
Noteworthy No. 1 Oklahoma State was the first school to win the stroke play and match play portions of the NCAA championships last year in the 10-year history of the format. … Six of the teams who qualified for match play at last year’s NCAA championships — Oklahoma State, Duke, Oklahoma, Auburn, Texas and Texas A&M — are in the field. Only Alabama and Texas Tech failed to qualify from last year’s final eight. … The Blessings is hosting its second national championship in a week after Duke won the women’s title on Wednesday. … The yardage from the men’s tees of 7,550 yards is 1,153 yards longer than the setup for the women’s championship tees at Blessings.
Oklahoma State, led by sixth-year Coach Alan Bratton, will have four of those title-winning players in the lineup when the Cowboys tee off at 12:10 p.m. today on the 10th hole of the challenging 7,550-yard Blessings layout.
"We've got a very good team," Bratton said. "Our goals are the same as they've been all year, to take care of business every shot. This course will demand that. You've got to keep your feet right where you are."
The home-course University of Arkansas won't be in the 30-team field to challenge for the title, but 23 of the other top 25 teams in the country will be gunning for the Cowboys.
"I feel like that's how it's been the last two years," Oklahoma State sophomore Matt Wolff said. "I think we're always kind of the team that everyone wants to beat, everyone wants to take down. We've been dealing with that the last couple of years. We just stick to what we know, stick to our game plan and we'll be all right."
The field will be narrowed to the top 15 teams after three rounds, with match play set to begin Monday for the final eight.
"It's a beautiful golf course in fantastic condition, so it's a real treat to be here," Bratton said after Thursday's practice round. "It's nice to have Mr. [John] Tyson out too, greeting everybody. We're just getting to know the golf course. The greens are tricky. ... Our goal is to get to know it better each day."
The list of challengers for for Oklahoma State is deep, including No. 2 Arizona State, No. 3 Wake Forest, No. 4 Vanderbilt, No. 5 Texas, No. 6 Oklahoma, and teams like No. 11 Auburn, which gave the Cowboys a strong run in a 3-2 match play loss in last year's semifinals.
The Tigers have 2018 NCAA runner-up Brandon Mancheno, a left-hander who handled everyone he played in match play at the SECs four weeks ago, on their deep roster. Auburn also boasts SEC individual medalist Jovan Rebula, who beat teammate Graysen Huff in extra holes at Sea Island in South Georgia.
All of the teams got in most of a practice round Thursday except for BYU, which teed off at 4 p.m. to play what is officially its third round because it does not compete on Sundays. The Cougars will play first and second rounds as scheduled the next two days.
"Loved the zoysia fairways, the bent greens," Wake Forest Coach Jerry Haas said. "It's probably the best combination of golf. ... The course is in unreal shape. It's difficult. You still can make some birdies if you play the slopes right and hit some good shots. It rewards good golf. There's gonna be some casualties out there, so you have to limit those."
Said Arizona State Coach Matt Thurmond, "The course is tough, as advertised, and it's beautiful. It's awesome.
"I think there are a few shots that are extraordinarily difficult. It just keeps coming at you. There's not a lot of breaks."
Vanderbilt Coach Scott Limbaugh said his team's goal Thursday "was mostly just figuring out some lines off the tees and clubs off the tees. Golly, it's in perfect shape. It's going to be a great challenge. You've got to keep your focus all day."
The 30-team field includes 16 former NCAA champions. In addition to 24 of the top 25 teams in the country, the challengers include No. 28 TCU, No. 33 UNLV, No. 42 Ohio State, No. 51 Georgia Southern and No. 53 SMU, the lowest-ranked team at the championship.
Arkansas freshman Julian Perico is one of six players competing as individuals as the highest-ranked finisher not on an advancing team at the six NCAA regional sites. Perico is scheduled to tee off at 9:02 a.m. on No. 1, along with Kyler Dunkle of Utah and Billy Tom Sargent of Western Kentucky. Tripp Kinney of Iowa State, Zach Smith of California-Santa Barbara and Edwin Yi of Oregon will tee off No. 1 at 2:22 p.m.
Perico said a home-course advantage is only what he can make of it.
"I'll just say it like, yeah, you get home course advantage and everything, and you're supposed to know the greens better and where to hit it and so on, but if you don't play well, the course advantage isn't there," Perico said. "You get the most out of a course advantage by playing good golf."
Sports on 05/24/2019