Oklahoma State sophomore Peter Uihlein left The Honors Course with orange Oakley sunglasses hiding his tears.
The final result of the NCAA championship hadn’t quite sunk in. Or at least the reality hadn’t hit the Oklahoma State sophomore as a runner-up trophy dangled from his hand.
“Anything we did all year didn’t really matter until today,” Uihlein said. “We expect to win.
“We’re the best team, we know it. We didn’t get it done.”
The Cowboys weren’t the best team on Sunday. And they’re not the national champions of 2010.
Augusta State is the 2010 NCAA Division I golf champion.
The Jaguars claimed their first national championship by knocking off the 10-time champion Cowboys 3-1-1 on a perfect Sunday for golf in the late Jack Lupton’s paradise.
Follow this link to a hole by hole preview of The Honors Course
They dominated matches won by team leaders Patrick Reed and Henrik Norlander over 2009 Walker Cup team members Uihlein and Morgan Hoffman.
Taylor Floyd, suffering in the heat, took intravenous fluids and played long enough to extend his has match to the point where either he or Mitch Krywulycz could close out the Cowboys.
Krywulycz allowed Floyd to ride in on a cart and conserve his energy for a hearty celebration with teammates, friends and family by The Honors Course scoreboard.
Krywulycz overcame being 4 down through 11 holes to junior Kevin Tway to force a playoff. Tway bogeyed No. 12, then Krywulycz birdied three straight holes to pull even. They halved the last four holes to force a playoff on No. 1
“It was a funny feeling of reality,” Krywulycz said. “You drive to practice thinking about those moments coming down to the last hole all-square with the championship in the balance. You have a lot of nights thinking about it, a lot of showers thinking about it.
“It was weird knowing that it was for all the marbles.”
They were both on the green in two on the par-4. Krywulycz made a par and left Tway with a fairly straight four-footer to extend the match.
Tway missed it left, groans emerged from followers wearing orange and subdued cheers arose from the gallery wearing baby blue before embraces consumed the green.
“I’ve been waiting 21 years of my life for something like this to have it end like that is pretty sickening to my stomach,” Tway said. “You just take it, try to learn from it, and see if I can do better next time.”
Reed and Norlander couldn’t have been much better. They combined to lose only four holes — all because Hoffman or Uihlein made a birdie — and were finished in time to cheer on their teammates.
“Those were two heavyweight fights between arguably four of the best players in the country,” ASU coach Josh Gregory. “For us to dominate those matches all day, I never would have dreamed of that. I would have bet those matches would have come down to the 18th hole.”
Instead, Norlander dispatched Hoffman 5 and 4 and Reed beat Uihlein 4 and 2. OSU’s Sean Einhaus beat Carter Newman and Floyd halved with Trent Whitekiller in what seemed to be the deciding match until Krywulycz made his run.
“They earned this victory in every way you could see and we did not,” OSU coach Mike McGraw said. “There are a lot of disappointments in life. This is one of them, now just figure out a way to deal with them.”
Augusta State was better on Sunday, and they have the hardware to prove it. They’re the national champions, not the perceived best team in the country.
“How bad did Hoffman lose?” Reed said. “Uihlein only took me to 16. Kevin Tway, who on paper is way better than Mitch, but who got that done. The sick one was about to win 17 to go Dormie-1.”
Reed continued to recount the day.
“Oklahoma State is a great program, they’re always in the national championship. I’m not bashing them. If it was stroke play, it’s gone and you know they win. But it’s match play now.
“They can say what they want, but we’re on top right now.”
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Article: Masters of The Honors