Cowboys Take Down Ohio State, Advance to Semifinals

News9.com

STILLWATER, Okla. – The Oklahoma State men's golf team began match play in the NCAA Championships with a 3-1-1 win over Ohio State Friday to advance to the semifinal round.

"That victory was huge. Ohio State was the underdog, there was no doubt about it," OSU head coach Mike McGraw said. "Those are hard matches to win, especially when you have five really hard-fighting kids that are coached by a guy (former Oklahoma State assistant Donnie Darr) that I think is probably the best coach in college golf."

The Cowboys took control with wins from freshman Talor Gooch and sophomore Sean Einhaus. Gooch started with a 4-and-2 victory over Alex Redfield, and Einhaus followed with a 3-and-2 win over Michael Cress. Cress managed to pull within one on the 14th, but Einhaus finished him with wins on the next two holes.

Kevin Tway then beat Brad Smith 2-and-1 to log the Cowboys' third point and guarantee a victory. Ohio State's only win of the day came courtesy of Dan Charen, who beat Morgan Hoffman 1-up.

Peter Uihlein and Bo Hoag halved their match, with the two tied at the 17th hole when Tway clinched his match and an overall win.

The victory will advance Oklahoma State to the semifinals, where it will face Augusta State at 10:45 a.m. Saturday in a rematch of last year's finals.

"It is all about moving on to the next round, and we were lucky enough to do that today," McGraw said. "We have a really tough opponent tomorrow. Josh Gregory's kids are tough as nails."

The Cowboys also got some help from Duke, which knocked off No. 1 seed UCLA to advance to the other semifinal match. The Blue Devils will face Georgia starting at 10 a.m.