Oklahoma State Golf Wins Columbus Regional, Remains Favorite for NCAAs

Oklahoma State rolled to an 8-stroke victory over Illinois on Wednesday at the Columbus Regional and easily made it to the NCAA Championships by 33 strokes (top five teams at each regional move on to Karsten Creek).

The Pokes closed with a 1-over 285, which doubled as the round of the day and delivered their ninth victory of the season and 13th NCAA regional title. They have also now made the NCAA Championships 71 times in 72 seasons and are the No. 1 team in the country as well as the favorite to win in 10 days at Karsten.

Poor Cleveland State. OSU took them by 85 strokes!

Individually, Michigan’s Kyle Mueller took home medalist honors with a three-day total of 5-under 208 at the Scarlet Course. Freshman Matthew Wolff tied for second with teammate Zach Bauchou at 3 under. Viktor Hovland finished T7, Kristoffer Ventura was T13 and freshman Austin Eckroat finished 19th.

You only take four of the five scores, which means two of the scores for the guy who finished 19th in the tournament (out of 75 players) weren’t even used. ?

“If you’re wondering why Oklahoma State is the prohibitive NCAA Championship favorite, it’s not just because they’re playing at their own home course in a couple weeks,” said Ryan Lavner of Golf Channel.

“It’s because of this performance at regionals on the most difficult golf course we’re going to see. All five players finished inside the top 20 individually.”

The Pokes are joined by six other Big 12 teams, including Texas, OU and Kansas, all of which won their regionals.

7️⃣ #Big12Golf teams are moving on. That’s the most ever.

➡️ https://t.co/kYpS65ESCa pic.twitter.com/bnZHj15N25

— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) May 16, 2018