Cowboys & Buckeyes

The path wasn’t pretty (OSU has only posted one under par round all week) but the slates have been cleaned and scoreboards emptied of all their nasty black numbers.

Now it’s just our five best guys against your five best guys, come out on top three separate times and you get to hoist a large trophy on Sunday.

Oklahoma State shot a +6 294 on Thursday which was actually the second best round of the day even though it was the Pokes’ worst of the tournament. That score left them at +15 for the tournament, good for a tie for third with Big 10 Champ, Illinois.

Peter U. gave us a glimmer of our first NCAA individual champ since Jonathan Moore and made the turn needing a 33 to join a list of thirteen other golfers who have won both the U.S. Amateur and the NCAA individual title in their careers including Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Justin Leonard, Jack Nickalus, Ryan Moore, and our very own Scotty Verplank.

He shot a 38.

Of course, I was blamed.

It was plenty though, especially on a hot, windy, Karsten Creek-like day like yesterday. Kevin Tway had the round of the day for the Cowboys and continued his streak of improvement each day he’s played with a 72, Sean Einhaus rebounded from his 80 yesterday with a 74, and Talor Gooch and Morgan Hoffman posted 75s, only one of which counted towards the team’s total score.

Today though, they all count. And OSU, matched with the other OSU, will be looking to miserably end what has been a miserable semester for Ohio State’s athletic program.

The Buckeyes are the lowest ranked team to make the final eight (#27) by far (Duke is #15) but enter having played played every round under 300 strokes this week (only Duke, UCLA, and Oklahoma State can also claim that).

The boys from Columbus have won two tournaments this year, neither of which had any relevant teams participating, and finished in fourth at both the Big 10 Championships and Regionals in San Diego. So to say they’ve been dominant, or even in our OSU’s atmosphere would be quite a stretch.

But they played well this week when it counted and Brad Smith (not that one) hit a big birdie putt on #18 yesterday to cinch their spot as the #6 seed at +23 for the week.

Today is different though. They’ll be facing a juggernaut in its own house with a national title on the line. OSU still has that bitter taste in its mouth from the last two years of stunning upsets and you can bet they aren’t going to let Brutus and Co. make it three straight.

Talor Gooch tees it up at 12:15 to get the Cowboys kicked off, followed by Einhaus, Hoffman, Tway, and Uihlein in that order. One OSU will be moving on to the NCAA semifinals and one will be disappointedly going home. Home to a fandom so obsessed with what transportation Terrelle Pryor has been using for the past three years that they probably won’t even care about their golf team coming up short.