May 17—There’s an area just north of the clubhouse at Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club, where holes 10, 11 and 12 are all within view.

That’s where Oklahoma head coach Ryan Hybl stood as his team began the back nine of the final round of the NCAA Norman Regional. What he saw was a little unsettling.

After the team went evenpar on a short par-4, 10th, the Sooners were making a mess of the 11th. Only one Sooner made par on the 445-yard par-4, the rest made bogey or worse as the team went a combined six-over on one of the trickiest holes of the week.

“I was watching it happen in front of me, and I couldn’t believe we were just withering away in front of my eyes,” Hybl said.

Just a few holes before arriving at the 11th, the Sooners had managed to climb their way back into a tie at the top of the standings after beginning the day trailing Alabama by two shots. Now, the Sooners could be another bad hole away from falling all the way out of the top-five and in danger of missing the NCAA Championships.

The Sooners weren’t ready to see their season end just yet.

Heading into a reachable par-5 on No. 13, Drew Goodman and Jake Holbrook each came away with birdies. Ben Lorenz landed his second shot on the middle of the green and got a long, downhill eagle putt to a back right pin location to drop to change the Sooners’ momentum.

With a large contingent of home fans following the players, the Sooners didn’t appear fazed coming down the stretch. Lorenz also made a key birdie on No. 17 and four of five Sooners birdied the last to finish the tournament 25-under.

The Sooners finished three shots back of first-placed Alabama, but secured a second- place finish and a spot in the NCAA Championships next week.

“Playing at home is always really interesting,” Hybl said. “When you have space, it’s one of the best things ever. When you don’t have space, and everybody’s out here with Oklahoma Sooner hats and shirts on, it just makes it that much more stressed piled up. So from that standpoint, I was very impressed with our guys coming down the stretch, because they could feel it.”

Despite being in danger of seeing their season end on Wednesday, the Sooners ended up making the cut by five strokes.

The Sooners’ back nine struggles couldn’t have been a bigger contrast from the way the team started the round. Four of Oklahoma’s five golfers were two-under or better before the eighth hole with 13 combined birdies.

Jase Summy, Drew Goodman and Lorenz each went bogey free on the front nine. Lorenz was setting the pace with four birdies, while Goodman had three and Summy had two.

Patrick Welch started the round with four birdies on the first six holes before going four-over on No.’s 7, 8 and 9.

Goodman went three under on the back nine to finish the day five-under. The sophomore shot 66-70-67 (13-under, 203) to finish a shot back of Texas Tech’s Ludvig Aberg.

Aberg, the No. 1 ranked player in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, didn’t make his first bogey of the tournament until the first hole of the third round. Aberg was two shots ahead of Goodman heading into the last three holes, and Goodman closed out the round with two birdies and a par.

Lorenz finished third overall and three shots back of Goodman. The junior posted his best round of the tournament on the final day with a six-under 66.

“Kudos to them and their play this week,” Hybl said about Goodman and Lorenz. “We know at regionals that you have to have guys step up and have a chance to win. We had two guys that played tremendous golf all week long and I’m just really excited about where those guys’ games are at.”

The second-seeded Sooners couldn’t defend their regional title, but Hybl admits there’s a sense of relief that comes from advancing to play at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.

The Sooners have now qualified for the last 12 NCAA Championships, which is the second-longest streak in the country. The Big 12 champions have made it to the match play portion of the championship six years in a row.

“When you get here it’s a little bit like a sigh of relief, because it’s like the journey continues on,” Hybl said. “This group can go do something phenomenal next week at Grayhawk. They’re good enough to go win a national championship.”

The NCAA Championships will take place over six days starting on Friday. It begins with a 54 holes of stroke play to cut the 30-team field in half, followed by another cut after 18 holes to determine the final eight teams.

Those eight teams will advance to match play.