Sooners Ready for NCAA Championships

NORMAN — The Oklahoma men's golf team will vie for a national title this weekend at the 2017 NCAA Championships, held May 26-31 (Friday-Wednesday) at the par-72, 7,300-yard Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill.

The Sooners are making their seventh straight appearance in the championships and join just Illinois, Texas and USC as the only programs to qualify for each of the last seven championships.

OU heads to Illinois off a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Stanford Regional. Sophomore Brad Dalke took the individual title at the regional with a career-low 198 (-12) to mark the first win of his career.

The Sooner lineup for the championships will include senior Max McGreevy, juniors Grant Hirschman and Rylee Reinertson, Dalke and sophomore Blaine Hale. Redshirt freshman Quade Cummins is traveling with the team to serve as a substitute if needed if the Sooners advance to match play competition.

Competing as the No. 13 seed, OU will tee off in the afternoon wave on Friday, starting from hole No. 10 at 1:55 p.m. CT. The Sooners will be paired with No. 14 seed Virginia and No. 15 UCF.

THE FIELD WITH TOURNAMENT SEED (GOLFWEEK/SAGARIN RANKINGS IN PARENTHESES)
1. USC (1)
2. Oklahoma State (4)
3. Vanderbilt (3)
4. Stanford (7)
5. Baylor (5)
6. LSU (2)
7. Illinois (6)
8. Oregon (9)
9. Kent State (12)
10. Texas (10)
11. Clemson (13)
12. UNLV (16)
13. Oklahoma (14)
14. Virginia (19)
15. UCF (50)
16. Duke (18)
17. Auburn (20)
18. Ole Miss (21)
19. Pepperdine (29)
20. Arizona State (23)
21. Florida State (24)
22. North Carolina (28)
23. Alabama (33)
24. Lipscomb (35)
25. Kennesaw State (31)
26. Purdue (32)
27. Jacksonville (41)
28. New Mexico (42)
29. Iowa State (45)
30. Penn State (46)

INDIVIDUALS WITH SEED
1. Will Zalatoris, Wake Forest
2. Chandler Phillips, Texas A&M
3. Travis Trace, North Florida
4. Trent Wallace, Illinois State
5. Mason Overstreet, Arkansas
6. Cam Norman, Troy

OU LINEUP
1. Max McGreevy, Senior: Dominated at the Lone Star Invitational, firing a three-round 196 (-20) to earn his third career title ... Recorded all three rounds in the 60s at the Lone Star Invite, including a school-record-matching 63 (-9) in the second round ... Earned co-medalist honors at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate ... Placed in the top 20 in nine of 13 tournaments this season, including three in the top-five ... Named to the 2017 All-Big 12 Team.

2. Grant Hirschman, Junior: Claimed his second individual win of the season at the Southern Highlands Collegiate, earning the title with a birdie on the first playoff hole ... Earned his first career tournament win at the Gopher Invitational, firing a birdie on the final hole to earn the title outright ... Has one other top-five placing, tying for fifth at The Maxwell ... Finished in the top 20 in eight events this season, including six out of the last seven events.

3. Rylee Reinertson, Junior: Tied for fourth at the Lone Star Invitational, marking the best finish of his career and his first career top-five placing ... Earned two consecutive top-10 showings with a tie for sixth at The Maxwell and a tie for ninth at the Big 12 Championship ... Has one other top-20 finish this season, a tie for 12th at the Southern Intercollegiate ... Named the 2015 and 2016 Nebraska Amateur Golfer of the Year.

4. Brad Dalke, Sophomore: Clinched his first career win at the NCAA Stanford Regional behind a career-low 198 (-12) ... Finished all three rounds of the regional in the 60s, highlighted by a career-low 64 (-6) in the second round ... Entered the regional off of back-to-back top 10 finishes, tying for 10th at The Maxwell and tying for ninth at the Big 12 Championship ... Earned an invite to The Masters April 6-9 after finishing runner-up at the 2016 U.S. Amateur.

5. Blaine Hale, Sophomore: Earned two top-five finishes this season, tying for fourth at the Ka'anapali Collegiate Classic and sharing fifth at the Gopher Invitational, the first top-five placings of his career ... Shot a career-low round, 66, three times this year (Nike Golf Collegiate Invitational first round, Ka'anapali Collegiate Classic second and third rounds) ... Most recently, tied for 38th at the NCAA Stanford Regional ... Named Big 12 Co-Golfer of the Month in November.

THE COURSE
The par-72, 7,300-yard Rich Harvest Farms will serve as the site for the 2017 NCAA Championships.

FORMAT
The 30 teams and six individuals that qualified for the championships will play 54 holes of stroke play total, completing 18 each day Friday through Sunday. The Sooners, alongside Virginia and UCF, will tee off for the first round on Friday at 1:55 p.m. CT from hole No. 10 and the second round on Saturday at 8:35 a.m. CT from hole No. 1.

On Monday, the top 15 teams and the top nine individuals not on an advancing team will compete in the final 18 holes of stroke play. A 72-hole individual champion will be decided and the top eight teams will advance to match play.

Match play will begin Tuesday with the quarterfinals and semifinals. The championship match will take place on Wednesday to determine the team champion.

TV COVERAGE
The Golf Channel will broadcast NCAA Championships competition Monday-Wednesday. Live coverage of Monday's play will take place from 4-7 p.m. CT. On Tuesday, match play competition will be aired from 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. CT (quarterfinals) and from 3:30-7 p.m. CT (semifinals). Wednesday's championship match will be broadcast from 3-7 p.m. CT.

In addition to live event coverage, the Golf Channel will also host pre-game and post-game coverage each day.

WEATHER FORECAST
Friday: Partly cloudy with a high of 75 degrees, wind from the south, southeast at 10-15 mph and a 70 percent chance of rain.

Saturday: Cloudy with a high of 78 degrees and wind from the southeast at 5-10 mph.

Sunday: Cloudy with a high of 76 degrees, wind from the west at 10-20 mph and a 60 percent chance of rain.

Monday: Partly cloudy with a high of 73 degrees and wind from the west at 20-30 mph.

Tuesday: Partly cloudy with a high of 75 degrees and wind from the west at 15-25 mph.

Wednesday: Cloudy with a high of 74 degrees, wind from the west, northwest at 10-15 mph and a 40 percent chance of rain.

OU'S NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS HISTORY
This season marks the seventh consecutive season the Sooners have advanced to the NCAA Championships and the program's 38th all-time appearance. The Sooners won the national title in 1989 and have had two individual champions, Walter Emery (1933) and Jimmy Vickers (1952).

In 2016, the Sooners advanced to match play for the first time since it was introduced to the championships in 2009. They were defeated by Texas, 4-1, in the quarterfinals. OU qualified for match play by narrowly making the cut of 15 after 54 holes before moving into the coveted eighth place in the final round of stroke play.

LIVE STATS
Live scoring will be available on GolfStat.com.

Players Mentioned

Quade Cummins

Brad Dalke

Brad Dalke

Blaine Hale

Blaine Hale

Grant Hirschman

Grant Hirschman

Max McGreevy

Max McGreevy

Rylee Reinertson

Rylee Reinertson

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics