Oklahoma Moves Into NCAA Golf Final Four

With coach Ryan Hybl decked out in his lucky 2017 sweater, the Sooners are feeling "some good mojo" heading into semifinal match against top seed Arizona State.

Oklahoma coach Ryan Hybl has his lucky sweater, and Oklahoma is in the Final Four.

Any correlation between Sooner history and this year’s NCAA Golf Championships may be revealed over the next two rounds.

After finishing the weekend fourth in stroke play and earning the No. 4 seed in match play, the Sooners opened Tuesday’s action at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, AZ, by beating No. 5 seed Illinois 3 and 2.

OU now moves on to a Tuesday evening semifinal against host and top-seed Arizona State. Coverage begins on Golf Channel at 4 p.m. CT.

“We’re gonna stick to our game plan,” Hybl said in an interview on Golf Channel. “Fairways and greens. That’s what gets the job done around here. We’re gonna have to just grind away.”

Despite nearly 100-degree temperatures, Hybl wore an OU sweater vest — the same won he wore in 2017 when the Sooners won the national championship.

“I took off my dry-cleaning tags from 2017 this morning,” Hybl said. “First time I’ve worn this. I just felt some good mojo this week with these guys. … The boys back in’ 17, they know about this one. So we’ll see if it can carry on for us.”

Oklahoma seniors Jonathan Brightwell and Quade Cummins and junior Logan McAllister earned the three victories Tuesday morning, while Ben Lorenz and Patrick Welch took the loss.

Brightwell beat Giovanni Tadiotto 3 and 1, McAllister beat Jerry Ji 2 and 1, and in the final pairing, Cummins sent the Sooners into the semifinals with a par putt on 18 to defeat Tommy Kuhl 2 and 1.

“Coming up on No. 8, it’s a pretty easy pin and I knew Tommy missed the green because nobody clapped,” Cummins said. “And so I was just trying to get in that bowl and have an easy 2-putt for par, because I knew he was gonna have a difficult chip.”

In Tuesday morning’s other quarterfinals, No. 1 seed Arizona State defeated North Carolina 3-1-1, No. 3 seed Pepperdine beat Florida State 3-1-1, and No. 2 seed Oklahoma State nearly swept Vanderbilt 4-1.

OSU now takes on Pepperdine in the other semifinal.

If both OU and OSU win on Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday’s finale would be a Bedlam showdown for the National Championship. The Sooners won the national title in 2017, while the Cowboys won it all in 2018.