Tag: Patrick Welch

Oklahoma senior Patrick Welch catches fire in the desert at NCAA Championship

“I hit pretty much every green. I think I missed one by like two feet.”

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Wake Forest’s Alex Fitzpatrick set a tough bar to limbo under with his bogey-free 65 on Saturday.

Patrick Welch said hold my birdie and danced his way around Grayhawk Golf Club during Sunday’s third round to the tune of a bogey-free, 7-under 63, tying the 2022 NCAA Div. I Men’s Golf Championship record at the tricky track in the desert set at last year’s championship by Arizona State’s Ryggs Johnston.

“I hit pretty much every green. I think I missed one by like two feet,” said Welch of round. “I was giving myself so many chances all day, 20 feet, 10 feet, five feet, they were all realistic looks. I was putting it well today and I was fortunate enough for most of them to go in.”

The senior from Aliso Viejo, California, took advantage of calm conditions and birdied two of his first four holes, then added three in a row from Nos. 8-10 to sit 5 under through just 10 holes. He added two more on Nos. 14 and 15 to climb the leaderboard all the way to fourth at 1 under. Vanderbilt’s Gordon Sargent sits first at 4 under, with Oklahoma’s Chris Gotterup in second at 3 under and Oklahoma State’s Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra in third at 2 under.

The round was two shots off the course record of 61 at Grayhawk’s Raptor course, first set by Mark Hensby in 2007 and matched two years later by Troy Matteson.

“It was incredible to watch him. When Patrick really hits the ball well, he’s so in control of his game. All areas. Tee ball, iron play, and that’s what we saw today,” said head coach Ryan Hybl. “I didn’t know we’d get a 63 out of him, but I felt like there was going to be a good one. Hopefully he can go get another one tomorrow because he is hitting it that good.”

Oklahoma is the lone team under par on the team leaderboard at 1 under and hold a four-shot lead over in-state rivals Oklahoma State heading into Monday’s final round of stroke play. In addition to two of the top four, the Sooners have both Logan McAllister and Drew Goodman T-20 at 4 over.

“We all know each one of us can go low and play really well,” said Welch of his team. “Yesterday, Chris and Logan led the way. The first day they all led the way, I didn’t play great the first round, and today I just had it going. But tomorrow someone else or all of us could get it going. We just try and play team golf. We don’t think about ourselves, we think about the team first and I think that really helps, especially this week.”

With high winds and higher temperatures as the day drags on, playing in the morning wave helps, too. The tournament format sees the top-15 teams after the first 36 holes play in the morning for the third round, while teams 16-30 play in the afternoon. Unlike the previous two days, morning scores were low on Sunday, with a stroke average of 72.31 from the early tee times, a good two shots better than the two previous days (74.43 on Friday and 74.60 on Saturday). Last year’s averages for the first three rounds, you ask?

“The only true advantage you have in this event is earning your right to play this morning, which we did. You saw the golf course not play super hard, I think a lot of that was because the greens just weren’t that firm,” said Hybl, who believes last years greens were more firm and challenging than this year’s. “I just feel like everybody was talking about the first day because they used about six of the harder flags they can use out here all on the very first day. I just found the golf course playing kind of perfect for a championship. You hit good shots, you’re gonna get rewarded. You hit poor shots, you’re gonna be struggling around.”

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College Performers of the Week powered by Rapsodo: Patrick Welch, Oklahoma

Oklahoma senior Patrick Welch won the Southern Highlands Intercollegiate and a PGA Tour exemption for next fall.

Oklahoma made its second consecutive start at an event with a PGA Tour exemption on the line, and for the second time, a Sooner left with the invitation. After fifth-year senior Chris Gotterup claimed the Puerto Rico Classic title last month (and an exemption into last week’s Puerto Rico Open, where he finished T-7), this time it was senior Patrick Welch’s turn. Welch went 14 under for 54 holes to win the Southern Highlands Collegiate and earn an invitation to the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, which will take place Oct. 6-9, 2022, at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas.

This is the second individual title for Welch, who won the 2020 East Lake Cup. Welch had a field-best 19 birdies for the week, which is also a personal best for the player from Aliso Viejo, California. He is ranked No. 66 in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings.

Welch’s performance also helped Oklahoma win the team title. It’s the Sooners’ second win this spring and fourth win on the season.

“It’s just been an amazing job from all of our guys so far,” head coach Ryan Hybl said in a release. “Chris obviously went down to Puerto Rico and won and then for Patrick Welch to come out here and win is just phenomenal. Really proud of how he handled everything coming down the stretch today.”

Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings: Men’s team | Men’s individual
College golf blog: The Road to Grayhawk

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2022 Southern Highlands Collegiate: It’s a Sooner sweep in Las Vegas

Oklahoma got an important win while one of its seniors earned a spot in the PGA Tour’s October stop in Vegas.

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LAS VEGAS — With Red River rival Texas lurking seven shots back, the University of Oklahoma men’s golf team fended off both the Longhorns and a late charge from Pepperdine to secure its third consecutive win.

As an added bonus, senior Patrick Welch will return to Las Vegas to make his PGA Tour debut in October.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had this feeling,” said Welch, who will be in the field at the Shriners Children’s Open after earning a special exemption with his individual victory Tuesday. “Ever since I started golfing, I’ve always wanted to make it to the PGA Tour. To have this opportunity means the world.”

After tapping in at the par-5 18th to post 67, putting him three clear of a five-way tie for second place, his teammates rushed onto the green to douse him with bottled waters.

“As soon as I finished out and they surprised me with the water, I’ve never had that experience before,” Welch said. “I’m at a loss for words. It was a really good feeling.”

Oklahoma’s lead waxed and waned throughout the day. Pepperdine, whose deficit was 9 shots on the first tee, made a huge move with a blistering 14 under front nine. Senior Derek Hitchner’s 30 featured six birdies in his first seven holes before he went on to card 67. Fellow senior Joe Highsmith’s 65 paced the Waves, who had an outside chance of catching the Sooners but combined to go three over from 16 into the clubhouse. They finished seven back of the champions.

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As for the rivalry? For Welch and coach Ryan Hybl, it was business as usual.

“I think every win feels the same,” Welch said. “Ever since last year we’ve been neck-and-neck. They’re a really good team and I know they aren’t 100 percent healthy, but this week they competed hard.

“To win over them, it’s nice. But it’s just another win.”

Texas would finish third, piloted by top-10 performances from juniors Mason Nome and Travis Vick and senior Cole Hammer. Hammer birdied four of his last six to jump into a tie for second place individually with Highsmith, Sooner freshman Drew Goodman, Georgia Tech sophomore Christo Lamprecht and Florida junior Fred Biondi.

Returning to competitive play for the first time since breaking his right arm was Texas senior Parker Coody, who was disappointed in his opening-round 73 but was certainly happy to be back representing the Longhorns.

“Mentally, I was pretty eager to get going,” Coody said after wrapping up a post-round driving range session. “Afterwards though I’m pretty frustrated. I just made mistakes that I usually don’t make and little things that add up to not a great score on a perfect day.”

Parker’s twin Pierceson, the 10th-ranked amateur in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com World Rankings, broke his arm in the same incident back in early December but didn’t travel with the team to Las Vegas.

“The doctor said he’s a couple of weeks behind me,” Coody said. “His fracture was a little bit worse than mine. Maybe he’ll be in Tucson [Arizona] in a couple of weeks.”

Coody would go on to sign for a 1-under 215, two years after claiming individual honors at Southern Highlands and earning the tournament’s inaugural PGA Tour exemption.

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Oklahoma claims top seed at East Lake Cup behind medalist Patrick Welch

Given Oklahoma’s deep roster, the team’s fall success hasn’t been surprising. It continued Monday with the top seed at the East Lake Cup.

Oklahoma’s roster got a big boost over the summer. In fact, you might say no other team came out on the other side of last spring’s COVID cancellations in quite as good shape as the Sooners.

Given that, it hasn’t been all that surprising that Oklahoma has collected a win, two other top-3 finishes and now the No. 1 seed at the East Lake Cup, a limited-field college match-play event at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.

The Sooners went 10 under in 18 holes in Monday’s stroke-play qualifying round and finished seven shots ahead of Pepperdine. Now, Oklahoma will take on Big 12 rival Texas in the first round of match play. Pepperdine will face Texas Tech.

Oklahoma has three fifth-year seniors in the lineup this week. Quade Cummins and Garett Reband offer a big boost of familiarity, but head coach Ryan Hybl also brought another senior into the fold. After four years at North Carolina-Greensboro, All-American Jonathan Brightwell joined the roster.

Leaderboard: East Lake Cup

Cummins and Brightwell offered rounds of 69 and 70, respectively, on Monday, but junior Patrick Welch stole the show. The junior with the cross-handed grip threw out eight birdies, including one on the final hole, for a 67 that left him with medalist honors. He was two shots ahead of Cummins in that race.

As he stood on the 14th tee at 3 under, Welch learned where he fell on the leaderboard – and that Cummins was right up there with him.

“I’m always rooting for my teammates,” Welch told Golf Channel. “We’re all a team and we’re all trying to win individually. There’s no hard feelings if he won or I won or whoever. We’re just trying to beat each other but at the same time, we’re always going to be cool at the end of the day.”

The win was a confidence booster for Welch, who has never claimed an individual title in a college event.

As for the team component? Welch expects Hybl to tell his men this evening that today is done and it’s time to take care of business on the bracket.

“Match play is a totally different animal,” he said. “You can shoot 80 one day and then play match play and be 10 under. I think we’re going to reset from today. It was nice that we won but tomorrow, match play, you gotta beat the guy.”

Oklahoma already ran up against Texas earlier this month in Big 12 match play, and Welch’s halve against star Longhorn junior Cole Hammer sealed it. Welch didn’t lose at that event, winning his first three matches and halving his last two, and his 30 birdies led the field.

“They’re a great team,” Welch said of Texas, “and we’re going to have to play our best to beat them.”

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