STILLWATER, Okla. – Zach Bauchou was already devastated after Oklahoma State fell to Oregon in the quarterfinals of the 2017 NCAA Championship.
He travelled back home with the team, and when he arrived in the parking lot at Karsten Creek Golf Club, Oklahoma State’s home course, around 1 a.m., Bauchou walked to his car and noticed he had a flat tire.
Bauchou and head coach Alan Bratton spent a miserable hour fixing it.
“We kind of talked the next day and we’re like, ‘Hey, let’s not make that (scene) the case this year,’ ” Bauchou said.
The Cowboys obliged.
Oklahoma State, the top-ranked and top-seeded host, steamrolled Alabama in Wednesday’s NCAA Championship final, posting a 5-0 victory over the Crimson Tide to capture its first national title since 2006 and 11th overall. Oklahoma State did it at Karsten Creek, seven years after the No. 1 Cowboys fell in a stunning semifinal upset to Augusta State at a home NCAAs.
This win also avenges Oklahoma State’s 2014 defeat in the final to Alabama, and the Cowboys become the first No. 1 seed to win NCAAs since the tournament changed to a match-play format in 2009.
The Cowboys had all the pressure on them this week. They were No. 1 in the country the entire season, playing at home and trying to rid themselves of a long title drought (by Oklahoma State standards). As the team embarked on a seven-event win streak during the meat of the season, there were rumblings of this being one of the great squads in the history of college golf.
If that wasn’t enough, Oklahoma State has been the main subject this spring of a Golf Channel docuseries “Driven,” which has offered a behind-the-scenes look as the Cowboys tried for their 11th national title.
But Oklahoma State stayed above the fray throughout.
“The stuff going on around us, we’ve done a really good job of not letting it distract us,” said Austin Eckroat, a freshman. “We knew it was going to be a special year.”
He was right, as the Cowboys earned their 10th win of the season Wednesday. And they finished it out in style, in front of an estimated crowd of 3,042 (almost universally in orange).
Oklahoma State was in control from the start Wednesday, winning the opening hole in three of its first four matches. The Cowboys only trailed in one match at any point on the day.
Bauchou made the biggest statement. The junior birdied five of his first eight holes to race to a 6-up lead on Jonathan Hardee and then holed a greenside bunker shot for eagle at the par-5 ninth. He had gone out in 7-under 29 and was 7 up.
A win at the 10th put him 8 up, and he closed out an 8-and 7 victory after draining a 10-footer for par at the par-3 11th. He was the last match out, but the first one to finish in a beatdown.
“I got a little heat with my putter,” Bauchou said in a post-round TV interview. “I made a ton of one-putts in a row, and that kind of just set the pace for the day.”
Viktor Hovland led from the start in the opening match against Lee Hodges and was 3 up by the turn. A birdie at the par-4 12th moved him 4 up and he cruised to a 4-and-3 triumph to put Oklahoma State up 2-0 and within one point of a national title.
Matthew Wolff, a freshman, gave the Cowboys the clinching point. The star newcomer, who earned the Phil Mickelson Award for top freshman in the country this season, also led from the beginning against Davis Shore.
He drained a 15-foot birdie putt at the par-3 15th to secure a 4-and-3 win and close out Oklahoma State’s 11th national title. (The Cowboys led in the other two matches at the time of clinching. Both remaining matches were conceded to Oklahoma State, giving Eckroat and Kristoffer Ventura victories as well.)
Domination.@OSUCowboyGolf sweeps Alabama to capture their 11th #NCAAGolf national title on home turf 🏆 pic.twitter.com/wpDpdU0spg — Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) May 30, 2018
Earlier this spring, Wolff noted the team’s philosophy is not just to secure victory: We’re not here to just win, we’re here to dominate.
That motto was followed to the letter in the final.
Oklahoma State did have at least one scare this week.
The Cowboys were never in danger in stroke play, medaling by eight shots to cruise to match play. But second-ranked Texas A&M gave Oklahoma State a late fight in the quarterfinals before the Cowboys threw back the surge and posted 3-1-1 win.
Oklahoma State then secured a 3-2 win in the semis against Auburn before taking down Alabama in the final.
For the Crimson Tide, this was their fourth final appearance in seven years. Alabama won back-to-back national titles in 2013-14.
Bratton had espoused this spring that he liked where this Cowboys team was headed.
“We’ll stick to the plan and hopefully this year ends the way we want it to,” Bratton said.
It certainly did.