OU Men's Golf Fall Recap

Never before has the Oklahoma men's golf team entered the spring season ranked No. 1, but such is the case now after the Sooners closed out the fall season with a record-setting performance.

"Our guys get pretty excited about stuff like this," 11th-year head coach Ryan Hybl said. "Our expectation is to go win. You're disappointed when you don't win. A lot of our guys have had such a winning mentality for several years now."

OU is ranked No. 1 in the Golfweek poll and No. 2 in Golfstat, a discrepancy that angers redshirt senior Quade Cummins.

"We want to get to No. 1 in both of them, so we're going to be hungry to keep it going," Cummins said. "We want to make sure that everyone knows we're No. 1. We're not going to let up for anything."

Fellow senior Garett Reband shares Cummins' frustration the ranking is not unanimous and said being No. 1 brings more motivation than it does pressure. "I know we can't really go up from where we're at in the ranking aspect," Reband said, "but it's definitely motivation to stay there."

Ranked No. 6 to begin the fall, the Sooners reached the summit with a record-setting performance at the Ka'anapali Classic on Nov. 2-4.

The 54-hole event was held on the 6,700-yard, par-71 Royal Ka'anapali Course in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, a layout that becomes defenseless when there is little wind. Conditions were calm (10-15 mph) throughout the three-day tournament, transforming the event into a limbo contest of "how low can you go?"

"There's a lot of birdies out there for sure, but the wind can really get kicking," Hybl said. "I don't want to take anything away from our guys and how they played because you still have to make putts and do some good things."

Cummins opened his final round with seven straight birdies and birdied eight of the first nine holes to turn in 29.

There is no documentation of a collegiate player ever shooting 59 in competition. "But we were all thinking it (during Cummins' round)," Hybl admitted with a chuckle. "What he did was really special."

Cummins wound up shooting a 9-under 62, setting a career low and matching Blaine Hale's school record during the second round of last year's NCAA Pullman Regional.

"I told myself I wasn't going to think about it until I got to 10-under," Cummins said of reaching the 50s. "After I got it to 9-under, the next three holes were straight into the wind. Those were going to be some good birdies to get there."

Cummins lost in a playoff with a par on the seventh hole against Georgia Trent Phillips.

OU's closing round 263 (21-under) set a school record, according to records dating back to the 1993-94 season. The final round beat the previous school record for low round by four strokes and the Sooners' total score of 805 (47-under) broke the tournament's previous record by a whopping 19 shots. OU amassed 29 birdies and an eagle in the final round as all five members finished under par for the round and the tournament.

"Our team can make a lot of birdies," Reband said, "so I feel that definitely plays into our favor on why we can take it so deep."

This year's team is led by Cummins (ranked No. 8 among collegiate players by Golfweek) and Reband (ranked No. 13). "Quade and Garett have played some really good golf," Hybl said. "We expect them to do that. They have senior leadership and have been very good the last couple years. You'd expect them to step up and play that part."

For this year's Sooners to reach such a lofty status is particularly impressive given the graduation losses of standouts Hale and Brad Dalke, who won the 2015 Junior PGA Championship and was 2016 U.S. Amateur runner-up.

"We did lose great players, but we won last year's Southern Highlands (Collegiate in Las Vegas) with the lineup we're playing with right now," Cummins said. "We won a really big golf tournament without those guys last year."

A significant boost came this fall from sophomore Logan McAllister, who captured the individual title at the prestigious Nike Collegiate Invitational at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in Portland, Ore., on Oct. 1.
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McAllister played just three events last season while trying to rediscover his swing. "His golf game needed to get a little reboot," Hybl explained. "He's done everything under the sun that we've asked him to do. When he's playing good, he can kind of take us to another level because he's a big-time player."

Also contributing to the record-setting team total in Hawaii were sophomore Patrick Welch, who matched a career low with 67 in the final round, plus redshirt senior Thomas Johnson, who closed with a 66.

With Cummins, Reband and McAllister excelling at the top three spots, the Sooners seek consistency from their No. 4 and 5 slots. "If we can get that, we're going to go all the way. No question," Reband said. "Me and Quade kind of encourage the other guys and let them know they're good enough. They just need to go out and play and not worry about the rest."

OU is keeping heady company with several other Big 12 programs. Texas Tech is No. 3 in the Golfweek poll (No. 1 in Golfstat), Texas is No. 10, Baylor is No. 13 and three other conference schools are in the Top 50.

"Public perception has been we take a back seat to some other folks in our conference, and our guys don't like that," Hybl said. "Our mission has always been to be the best golf program in the country. That doesn't necessarily mean to be ranked No. 1 because golf is such an ebb and flow sport in team play. … It's just so heavy in our conference in men's golf right now. If you don't bring it, you're going to get beat."

The Sooners open the spring season Feb. 16-18 at the Puerto Rico Classic in Rio Mar, P.R. They will start the season at No. 1 and have no intention of surrendering the spot.

"Quade just wants to keep on rolling," Hybl said. "I've never been around a guy genuinely is just never satisfied with what's going on. He wants to keep on improving and show everybody not just how good he is but how good the whole team is. I'm hoping that leadership takes us through the roof this spring."

The 6-foot-3 Cummins played basketball at Weatherford High School and said he has always taken the same approach competing in sports. Golf on the nation's top-ranked team is no different.

"We want to be dominant," Cummins said. "If you're just barely squeaking by, you don't look that good. But if you go out and cruise, prove what you have, it looks a lot better. That's kind of what we've talked about the whole year. Our first meeting was like that, not letting up. Coach always talks about not being scared to go low. It happens to everybody. You're sitting 5- or 6-under and you start thinking about just trying to get it to the house, but the great guys are still trying to make birdies to get to 7- or 8-under before it's all over with. You can't have that mindset of just getting by. You've got to put the pedal down."

Players Mentioned

Quade Cummins

Brad Dalke

Blaine Hale

Thomas Johnson

Logan McAllister

Garett Reband

Patrick Welch

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