Augusta State beat Oklahoma State to win NCAA men's title

FROM THE AUGUSTA STATE UNIVERSITY WEBSITE
OOLTEWAH, Tenn.-- Augusta State captured the first National Championship in school history Sunday afternoon when the Jaguars took down Oklahoma State 3-1-1 in the championship match of the 112th NCAA Championships at The Honors Course just outside Chattanooga.

The national title is the first for the Jaguars in any of its 11 university-sponsored, varsity sports. With the victory, ASU defeated the No. 3 seed (Georgia Tech), the No. 2 seed (Florida State) and the No. 1 seed (Oklahoma State).
“It means everything. It is a dream come true,” said Jaguar head coach Josh Gregory, who, as a junior at SMU, played in the 1996 NCAA Championships at The Honors Course. “It has validated the success of the coaches (that came) before me and the players before them. I can promise you that there is no university or golf program that will appreciate a national championship as much as Augusta State. College golf means something to Augusta, Ga.”
Mitch Krywulycz’s match proved to be the deciding point, as he battled back from an early 4-down deficit to Oklahoma State’s Kevin Tway. After Krywulycz cut his deficit to 3-down on the 10th hole, Tway won the 11th to go 4- up.
A junior from Sylvania, Australia, Krywulycz then responded by winning four consecutive holes -- the last three with birdies. He pulled even with Tway when he drained an 18-footer for birdie on the par-four 15th.
The final three holes were halved with pars, sending the match to extra holes. On the par-four, 405-yard first hole of the playoff, both players’ drives found the fairway and each hit their approaches within 20 feet. Krywulycz putted first, leaving his birdie effort just short and Tway conceded his par putt. Tway’s birdie effort from 18 feet rolled past the cup nearly five feet, and his return putt for par slid past the left side of the cup.
With the miss, Krywulycz completed his dramatic comeback and gave the Jags the deciding point that clinched the National Championship and set off an ASU celebration.
“I felt like I was actually back in the match,” said Krywulycz, who redshirted during the 2008-09 season. “Once we got to the 16th tee, I knew it was getting pretty real and I was back in this and it was on. I knew the greens were quick and no putt would be fun the last couple holes. I was playing pretty horrible throughout three quarters of the round. I waited for it to turn and it finally did.”
Junior Henrik Norlander got the Jags on the board first when he won 5-and-4 over Cowboys’ sophomore Morgan Hoffman, a member of the 2009 U.S. Walker Cup team. Norlander never trailed, winning the first hole with a birdie. He led 4-up after five holes and led by as much as 6-up after the eighth.
The Cowboys, who were seeking their 11th national championship in men’s golf, drew even at 1-all when Sean Einhaus defeated ASU’s Carter Newman in the first match of the day. Einhaus closed out the match when the players traded pars on the 17th hole, good for a 2-and-1 victory.
“We were behind the eight ball the whole day,” said Cowboys’ head coach Mike McGraw. “We had one match going our way, and everything else was the wrong way. We kind of clawed back, but in the end we didn’t hit the shots needed to win a championship. Josh Gregory’s kids are gamers. They are impressive young men, the ones I watched. Taylor Floyd is an amazing story, pulling an IV out of his arm.”
ASU sophomore Patrick Reed gave the Jags a 2-1 advantage when he closed out Peter Uihlein 4-and-2. Reed trailed only briefly, losing the first hole when Uihlein birdied. Reed answered with a birdie at the par-five second and followed with birdies on the third and fourth holes. He led by as much as 5-up after the 10th hole.
Sophomore Taylor Floyd, battling the flu for the second straight day, went out last for the Jags after Cowboys’ head coach Mike McGraw agreed to allow the scheduled second match of Floyd and Trent Whitekiller to be pushed back to match five.
In what appeared to be the match that would decide the outcome, Floyd birdied the first hole to go 1-up and won the third and fourth holes for a 3-up lead. Whitekiller won the sixth and seventh holes to cut his deficit to 1-down, and birdied the ninth to square the match.
Floyd went 1-up at the 10th before Whitekiller countered with wins on the 13th and 14th for a 1-up lead, his first of the day. Floyd evened the match at the 16th with a birdie and appeared to be in position to take a 1-up lead at the par-five 17th after reaching the green in two.
When Krywulycz’s match ended, the hole was halved as well as the match.
“With having Taylor as sick as he was, we needed to get a lead over those guys,” said Gregory, who got doused by Newman and Reed with a cooler of water as he was wrapping up an interview with the Augusta Chronicle’s Chris Gay. “They are incredible players, and we needed to get some momentum early. We had a lot of fans here and we got some people fired up a little bit.
“It gave our guys a little confidence when they went by the scoreboards and saw that we were up in three of the matches all day. To find a way to close it out and get it done in the fashion that we did … For Mitch Krywulycz to be four down and come back and win the thing shows his heart and character and that is why I believed in that kid for four years now.”
NCAA Men’s Golf Championships
The Honors Course
Ooltewah, Tenn.
Par 72 – 7,395 yards
June 1 -6, 2010
Match Play Championship
1. Henrik Norlander (Augusta State) def. Morgan Hoffman (Oklahoma State), 5-and-4
2. Patrick Reed (Augusta State) def. Peter Uihlein (Oklahoma State), 4-and-2
3. Mitch Krywulycz (Augusta State) def. Kevin Tway (Oklahoma State), 1 hole.
4. Taylor Floyd (Augusta State) halved with Trent Whitekiller (Oklahoma State)
5. Sean Einhaus (Oklahoma State) def. Carter Newman (Augusta State), 2-and-1