The quarterfinals of the NCAA championship at The Honors Course on Friday were comprised of two matches that were won handily and two that came down to the final players putting on the final green.
* Oregon 3, Washington 2
Long before Oregon’s Eugene Wong made a short putt on the 18th hole to beat Washington’s Nick Taylor and clinch the fifth-seeded Ducks’ quarterfinal win over the fourth-seeded Huskies, the Ducks’ Jack Dukeminier hit a 235-yard 3-iron that he called the best shot he hit all day.
Dukeminier was 1 down to Washington’s Charlie Hughes on the 17th hole after being 2 up with five holes to go. In need of a big shot on the uphill, 545-yard par-5, Dukeminier delivered with a sweet swing that led to an eagle that tied the match.
On No. 18, Hughes, who had birdied Nos. 14-16 to take the 1-up lead, three-putted for bogey to give the Ducks their first point of the round.
“It kind of (stunk) to see it end like that, but I’ll take it,” Dukeminier said.
Oregon’s third point came from Daniel Miernicki, who lost the first hole against Richard Lee but tied the match on No. 2 and didn’t trail the rest of the round.
Darren Wallace and Chris Williams won matches for the Huskies.
* Oklahoma State 4, Stanford 1
OSU and Stanford have combined to win 18 NCAA golf championships, but only one could advance for a chance to win this year.
Oklahoma State did so in convincing fashion after the Cardinal won a three-team playoff Friday morning to reach match play.
“We were up in three or four matches early,” Stanford coach Conrad Ray said. You can’t hang your head too much, because Oklahoma State is a great team.”
Sean Einhaus beat Joseph Bramlett 5 and 4, and Kevin Tway defeated Sihwan Kim by the same score. Trent Whitekiller claimed a 1-up victory over Andrew Yun, and Morgan Hoffman beat Steve Ziegler 1 up. David Chung beat Peter Uihlein 1 up for Stanford’s point.
Whitekiller sealed the victory before the Chung and Hoffman matches were finished.
“That was a good feeling, and I tried to finish it up and make it easy for the other guys,” said Whitekiller, who two-putted on No. 18 for the win. “(Yun) had a good putt, and lucky for me it didn’t go in. I knew I had to make par and be done.”
* Florida State 4, Texas Tech 1
Chattanooga PGA professional Dan Tribble Jr. could barely believe the golf he saw during the match between Florida State’s Drew Kittleson and Texas Tech’s Nils Floren.
“He shot 5 under and only won 2 and 1,” Tribble bragged about Kittleson, who reached the finals of the 2008 U.S. Amateur.
Tyler Weworski defeated Wesley Graham 3 and 2 for the Red Raiders’ lone point. They reached match play by shooting 8 under par Thursday morning and sweating through the afternoon rounds.
“I don’t think we played as good as we have been playing the last couple of rounds,” Texas Tech coach Greg Sands said. “There were a couple matches that came to 18 that didn’t go our way.”
FSU’s Michael Hebert beat Finley Ewing IV 2 and 1, Seath Lauer beat Matt Smith 2 up, and Kittleson never trailed against Floren.
“It was a really good round today,” FSU coach Trey Jones said. “They got behind a bit today but settled down and played really well.”
* Augusta State 3, Georgia Tech 2
Georgia Tech junior Chesson Headley pumped his fists on the 18th hole after he drained a 35-foot putt for birdie.
Augusta State sophomore Patrick Reed made a muscle-man pose after he matched the birdie and closed out Headley 1 up to tie the team match at 2-all, leaving the team match up to ASU’s Henrik Norlander and Tech’s John Tyler Griffin.
They both missed birdie putts and Augusta State’s Carter Newman let out a huge sigh of relief for the victory.
“I thought we had it pretty safe, and I guess they stepped it up and we got pretty comfortable,” said Norlander, who finished fifth in the stroke-play format. “He made a great two-putt to win No. 17, and he could have easily got me here on 18.
“I had the match all day, but I got lucky in the end.”
Tech’s Kyle Scott beat Taylor Floyd 1 up, and James White beat Mitch Krywulycz 2 and 1 for the Yellow Jackets’ points.
Reed and Hesson combined to make 12 birdies in their match, and neither held a lead bigger than 1 up.
“I’m glad I’ll be able to play again,” Reed said. “It was a battle back and forth, and it was good to play in a battle with good play.”