The Buckeyes made it to the matchplay portion of the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2011.
A spirited run by the No. 7 seeded Ohio State men’s golf team came up just short, falling to the No. 6 seed Auburn Tigers 3-2.
It came down to extra holes, as the match was tied 2-2 with Adam Wallin of Ohio State and Jackson Koivun of Auburn having not determined a winner after 18 holes. After both golfers made pars on the 19th and 20th hole, Koivun birdied the 21st hole to win the match and advance Auburn, ending the Buckeyes’ season.
Words are going to be tough,” Ohio State head coach Jay Moseley said to the Golf Channel after the semifinals. “I can’t really put it into words what these guys have meant to this program. They have been our heart and soul, and I couldn’t be more proud of the way they played this week.”
Moseley added, “We had some really special and powerful moments, and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
In the stroke play portion, Ohio State scored 22-over to finish in solo seventh place and advance to the eight-team match play portion.
They drew the No. 2 seed and the No. 2 team in the country, Vanderbilt. In the match, Adam Wallin was all but done against Gordon Sargent, the top amateur in the world and the 2022 NCAA individual national champion, after going 2-down with two holes left. He then made a 30-foot par putt on No. 17 and made a par on No. 18 to extend the match to 19 holes.
On the 19th hole, both Wallin and Sargent went into the front greenside bunker on the par-3 No. 16, and Wallin got up and down for par. Sargent missed his par putt, giving Wallin and Ohio State the win.
For Ohio State, Neal Shipley and Jackson Chandler won their matches to get the Buckeyes to three points.
Tyler Sabo also recorded a hole-in-one on the par-3 No. 8.
This is only the second time Ohio State has advanced to the match play portion, the other time being in 2011.
