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OU Golf: Oklahoma Remains in 2nd Going Into Final Day of Norman Regional

The Sooners trail Alabama by two strokes and are in good shape to make their 12th straight NCAA Championship as the top five teams advance.

John E. Hoover

Nick King/Lansing State Journal-USA TODAY NETWORK

By OU Media Relations

NORMAN – On moving day at the NCAA Norman Regional, No. 9 Oklahoma held its spot on the leaderboard and remains in second place with one round to go at Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club.

The Sooners (2, -13) trail leader Alabama (-15) by a pair of strokes and are five shots clear of the championship cut after Tuesday. The regional serves as the preliminary event for the NCAA Championships, which Oklahoma has advanced to 11 years in a row.

The top five teams on the leaderboard will qualify for the championship after Wednesday's final round.

"I don't think we took advantage of the holes that we needed to today," head coach Ryan Hybl said. "We have to be better on the par-5s and we'll need to attack those tomorrow. The chips are going to fall where they may and my mindset is I want our guys to play elite golf, and we didn't do that today."

The morning started strong for the Sooners, as they erased Texas Tech's one-shot lead early on and built a six-shot lead on the front nine. But as teams made the turn to the tougher back nine in Norman, No. 17 Alabama caught fire, and the Crimson Tide closed the day with an 8-under-par round, four strokes better than the Sooners to take a two-shot lead into the clubhouse.

Midway through the second round, Oklahoma saw itself 13 shots clear of the cut, but that gap shrunk as the round continued as Duke posted a 5-under mark over its last nine holes to move into sixth place at 8-under, two back of the cut and just five back of second-place OU.

Drew Goodman (2, -8) paces the Crimson and Cream after 36 holes in the individual race. The sophomore from Norman led most of the round, but the world's No. 1 amateur, Ludvig Aberg of Texas Tech, fired off his second consecutive bogey-free round to catch the Sooner and claim a one-shot lead after 36 holes.

Ben Lorenz (T7, -4) finished even par on the day after a bogeyless 32 (-4) on the back nine after a 4-over on the front. A long birdie putt on the par-4 17th hole moved him back inside the top 10.

Patrick Welch sits in a tie for 12th after carding a 2-under 70 Tuesday, as the senior is 3-under par for the week.

Jase Summy (T55, +4) got in with a 72 (E) on the day, while Jake Holbrook subbed in for Stephen Campbell Jr. and signed for a 74 (+2).

Oklahoma's pairing will remain the same for the third consecutive day on Wednesday when the Sooners tee off with Alabama and Texas Tech (3, -11) at 8 a.m. CT. On the line for Hybl's team is the nation's second-longest streak of NCAA Championship appearances, as OU has advanced in 11 straight seasons.

Hosting a regional for the second year in a row, last season at Jimmie Austin, the Sooners trailed Auburn by six shots entering the final round and won the tournament by 10 strokes. Oklahoma, who has won six regionals all-time, has advanced out of all three home regionals hosted in the Hybl era (2009-present), finishing fifth in 2012 and winning in 2018 and 2022. The course will also host an NCAA Women's Regional in 2025. A win on Wednesday would mark the 40th under Hybl.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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