The pressures of performing in the postseason were high during the first day of match play at the NCAA men’s golf championship at the Capital City Club’s Crabapple Course.
The pressure boiled over for defending national champion Texas, as No. 5-seed Illinois hooked the Longhorns for a 3-2 victory.
“You got to give (Illinois) credit,” Texas coach John Fields said. “They stood in there and made the putts when they had to, and they got us.”
Illinois’ victory earned them a matchup with No. 1 California on Saturday. Illinois has come on strong late in the season, but still considered themselves underdogs.
“There’s some pressure on those guys, but there’s none on us,” Illinois coach Mike Small said.
The pressure almost got to the Golden Bears when No. 8-seed Arizona State pushed them to the brink, before they responded and showed why they have been widely regarded as the best team in college golf.
The Bears were world-beaters on a historic run all season, winning 11 of the 13 tournaments they participated in. But they needed a beautiful shot from junior Brandon Hagy on 18 to put away the young Sun Devils. Hagy’s approach was 138 yards.
“It was downwind; it was just a perfect, full-gap wedge,” Hagy said. “It was a great number for me, so I just stepped up there and hit the shot.”
Was he nervous?
“Absolutely,” Hagy responded. “That’s why you practice that, to be in those situations. I just picked a good target and made a good swing.”
When asked about Cal’s chances of winning it all, Arizona State coach Tim Mickelson simply responded, “I don’t see how it gets any better than that.”
All five of Cal’s players shoot 71.0 or better and are ranked in the top 25 nationally, making them a nightmare in the match-play setup. Illinois’ best player barely cracks the top 50, but that doesn’t mean the Fighting Illini are shying away from the challenge.
“That’s going to be fun,” Small said. “I mean there’s no other word to describe it. It’s going to be fun. If we look at this thing as any different way, we’re looking at it the wrong way. … Five guys, I was doing the pairings in there, and five guys in the top 25. How am I supposed to think that thing through? That’s pretty strong. What’s our top rated guy? 46? But you know what, it’s golf, it’s match play and we believe in ourselves. And we’re gonna enjoy this challenge tomorrow and see how we do.”
One thing working against Cal is the fact that in the four years since the NCAA championship adopted the stroke-play/match-play format, no individual champ has played on the team that survived match play to win the team championship. Cal’s Max Homa won the individual title Thursday after shooting a 4-under 66 to finish at 9 under for the first NCAA singles championship in school history.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, No. 3 Alabama never let pressure creep into its match with No. 6 New Mexico. The Crimson Tide blew past the Rebels for a 4-1 victory and a date with No. 2 Georgia Tech, who defeated No. 7 UNLV in 19 holes. After falling to Texas in the final last year, Alabama is out for redemption.
Senior Scott Strohmeyer and junior Cory Whitsett both cruised to big wins for the Tide, winning their matches on the 15th and 14th holes, respectively.
“Strohmeyer was solid as a rock, and how he was in control early gave us a lot of confidence,” Alabama coach Jay Seawell said. “Whitsett just played phenomenal golf. He had seven birdies, and I thought he looked really good.”
The final four is set with California taking on Illinois at 10 a.m. Saturday and Tech facing Alabama at 10:45 a.m. The winners of the two matches will meet at 10 a.m. Sunday for the championship.
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