NCAA Men's Final Set: Pepperdine vs. Oklahoma
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The tiny college from rural southern California will take on the powerhouse Big 12 behemoth from Oklahoma, as Pepperdine beat Oklahoma State 4-1 to advance to the national championship. The No. 1 Sooners outlasted Arizona State in the other semi-final at Grayhawk to set up Wednesday’s title match (Golf Channel, 5 pm ET).
The teams met last fall in the East Lake Cup, with Pepperdine cruising to a 4-1 win. But a lot has changed with both teams lead by “super” seniors taking advantage of a one-time pandemic year NCAA rule allowing players to return.
Brentley Romine writes about the old guys leading their teams: Quade Cummins for OU and Clay Feagler for the Waves.
Though Cummins, Brightwell and McAllister are a combined 23-4 in match play this season, the Sooners will need more from Reband and Lorenz if they are to defeat Pepperdine, which beat Oklahoma in the East Lake Cup final, 4-1, last October. Cummins was the only Oklahoma player to win his match that day, and he didn’t even get to finish it.
“Last time we played them in match play they got us pretty good,” Cummins said. “So, you know, we're not satisfied just making it to the finals. We're here to win.”
Not present for the Waves’ victory at East Lake was Pepperdine’s Clay Feagler, another super senior. Unlike Cummins, Feagler wasn’t a shoo-in to come back to school. His game was in poor shape and he had missed two straight tournaments for the top-ranked Waves when last season was canceled.
“I was so bummed,” said Feagler, who also had watched star teammate Sahith Theegala make the leap to the pro ranks. “I didn’t really want to go back. I wasn’t making the lineup anyway and was kind of just down in the dumps.”
Pepperdine put the Cowboys away with two epic shots, Clay Feagler’s ace and Joe Highsmith’s clutch fairway bunker shot at 18:
