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Alabama came into Stillwater on a hot streak, and have spent the better part of a week scorching the course — including smoking No. 2 Duke, 5-and-0 to reach yesterday’s semifinals. They didn’t cool off either. Freshman Wilson Furr eagled, giving the Tide a 3-and-2 victory over the No. 3 Texas Tech Red Raiders.
That advanced the 6-seed Tide to today’s match play national championship round. Their opponent is the number one team in the nation, the No. 1 overall seed, the subject of a Golf Channel season-long embed, and the host of the event — the Oklahoma State Cowboys.
Coverage will be available on GolfStat.com, if you’re away from a television. Gone is the 6 a.m. tee time as well. The Tide and Pokes square off at 2:25 CDT. And, beginning at 3:00 CST, you can catch live coverage on the Golf Channel.
Here are the pairings from Alabama Men’s Golf. You notice that Coach Jay Seawell has his senior stars bookending match play, with superstar-in-the-making Wilson Furr paired at the three-slot. We saw with the women last weekend what happened without an ace closer, so to speak, where Mic Potter’s pairings were calculated to give ‘Bama the early kill instead.
Here they are‼️ The official lineup for the 2018 #NCAAGolf Championship match between #Alabama and Oklahoma State‼️
— Alabama Men's Golf (@AlabamaMGolf) May 30, 2018
A reminder the @GolfChannel will begin live coverage at 3 pm CT. Live stats can be found on https://t.co/9ECyyHhH9V. #RollTide pic.twitter.com/uJpesMLu9s
Today’s opponent is, for lack of a better analogy, the Alabama Football of Men’s Golf — or perhaps Osborne-era Nebraska is the better analogy. The Cowboys have won 10 national titles. Its home Karsten Creek course is as lavish a playing surface as you’ll find in the collegiate ranks. To show you what a commitment there is to golf in Stillwater, OSU’s AD is its former golf coach — and the winner of 8 national championships.
Still, OSU has come up short several times the last decade, not having hoisted a trophy since 2006. It has been a special season in Stillwater, to be sure. But, there are signs that this Cowboys team is feeling the home pressure, and they have played with the yips from time-to-time in match play.
A relaxed, red-hot Crimson Tide with nothing to lose versus a legacy program wanting to close out a title run on its home course: Today should prove to be outstanding competition.
Best of luck, and Roll Tide.