Arizona State golf falls to Oklahoma in NCAA men’s national semifinals

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Quade Cummins sank an 8-foot birdie putt on the drivable par-4 17th hole at Grayhawk Golf Club in the NCAA men’s national semifinals on Tuesday, clinching Oklahoma’s place in the title match against Pepperdine.

Oklahoma and host Arizona State played close matches all afternoon after advancing to the semifinals, each winning two before the anchor match between Cummins and Cameron Sisk.

Sisk opted to lay up on the 330-yard 17th, and his wedge approach shot bounded through the green. Cummins, a member of Oklahoma’s 2017 national championship team, hit driver to the front of the green and made the second putt after Sisk chipped well past the hole.

Jonathan Brightwell also won right before Cummins closed it out for the Sooners. Brightwell got up and down for par on the difficult 18th hole for a 1-up victory after conceding a short eagle to Arizona State’s David Puig on No. 17.

Oklahoma beat top-seeded Arizona State 3-2 and will play for its third national championship against Pepperdine, which had never reached match play at the NCAA championship.

The Sooners, who reached match play for the fifth straight year, beat Illinois 3-2 in the morning quarterfinals.

Pepperdine had the best round of final qualifying on Monday, posting a collective 9 under to move from outside the cut line to the third seed.

The Waves won their morning quarterfinal matches with Florida State 3-1-1, including lopsided wins by Clay Feagler (6 and 4) and Joey Vrzich (4 and 3).

John Pak had Florida State’s lone win in the quarterfinals, beating William Mouw 1 up. Pak also was announced as winner of the Haskins Award, given to the most outstanding NCAA Division I men’s golfer, a day after finishing fifth in the NCAA individual tournament.

Feagler had an ace on the 188-yard eighth hole to kick off a run of five consecutive wins on his way to beating Oklahoma State’s Austin Eckroat 2 and 1.

Jon Highsmith closed out Pepperdine’s semifinal win with a par on No. 18 after hitting a 183-yard shot out of the fairway bunker. He hit the clinching putt after Oklahoma State’s Aman Gupta missed a long birdie putt.

Arizona State reached the semifinals by beating North Carolina 3-1-1, and Oklahoma State advanced with a 4-1 win over Vanderbilt.