We’re just a few weeks into the spring portion of the college golf season, but this week at The Prestige just might have been foreshadowing for the NCAA Championship.
Three of the top-10 and six of the top-25 men’s college golf teams were on hand at PGA West in La Quinta, California, but all eyes were on No. 7 Texas and No. 1 Pepperdine.
The Longhorns, who finished runner-up at last year’s NCAAs, entered Wednesday’s final round with a five-shot lead over the Waves and never looked back, claiming the team title at 20 under. Spencer Soosman, the lone senior in a starting lineup dominated by young talent, shot a 6-under 65 on Wednesday to climb into third place on the individual leaderboard and propel Texas to the win.
“Spencer Soosman’s round today, 65 on this golf course with these hole locations, was outstanding,” said longtime Texas coach John Fields. “We’ve been waiting for a little bit of a breakout performance from him and today was that.”
Texas began the spring with a second-place finish at the Amer Ari Invitational earlier this month after a successful fall campaign ended with a win at the East Lake Cup in Atlanta.
“We’ve been wanting to win for a while,” added Fields, noting his team’s sole win last season was at its home course for the 2019 NCAA Austin Regional. “These guys wanted to win outside of Austin.”
The Prestige: Leaderboard
Pepperdine (-14) won its first two events of the spring at its own Southwestern Invitational and the Amer Ari and added a second runner-up finish to a stellar season of results. The Waves haven’t placed lower than fourth since the opening event of the season at the Maui Jim Intercollegiate.
San Diego State finished third at 11 under, followed by Texas Tech at 9 under and Oklahoma State at 7 under.
Worst to first
Oklahoma State’s Austin Eckroat took the clubhouse lead atop the individual leaderboard at 10 under before San Diego State sophomore Leo Oyo, who started the round bogey-bogey, chipped-in for eagle on the par-5 16th hole to take the lead at 11 under. Oyo made par on the final two holes to win his first collegiate event, carding a 5-under 66 in the final round.
The Tokyo native was emotional after the win, and for good reason: last season he finished this event in last place.
Talk about improvement… One year ago at The Prestige San Diego State's Leo Oyo shot 80-77-79 for a 23-over 236 and beat only 5 players finishing in 72nd place (out of 77 players) … TODAY he wins The Prestige with rounds of 66-66-68 for an 11-under 202.
— Lance Ringler (@GolfweekRingler) February 19, 2020
“I finished dead last last year, I worked pretty hard to get to where I am, so this means a lot,” said Oyo, fighting back tears.
Eckroat finished second, followed by Soosman at 9 under. SMU’s Ollie Osborne and Wyoming’s Dan Starzinski round out the top five at 6 under.
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