Men’s golf goes to playoff before losing national title to Oregon

By Steve Lansdale

EUGENE, Ore. — The University of Texas men’s golf team’s dream of a national championship fell just short Wednesday when the Longhorns lost, 3-2, Wednesday to the University of Oregon at Eugene Country Club.

Texas played the march without All-America Beau Hossler, who injured his shoulder in the national semifinal victory over USC. But UT head coach John Fields said[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level1)] that with or without his top player, he was extremely proud of the way his team competed.

“It was a first-class championship,” Fields said. “We were excited to be here. We came up short today just a little bit. The NCAA crowned a great champion in Oregon. It is their moment, and we gave it our best. We didn’t lose this golf tournament — they won it. I’m excited for them. I’m appreciative that we had the opportunity, and I’m really proud of every one of my guys, Gavin Hall, Doug Ghim, Scottie Scheffler, Taylor Funk and Beau Hossler and my assistant coach, Jean-Paul Hebert.”

Oregon’s Sulman Raza birdied the third playoff hole to edge Texas sophomore Taylor Funk to clinch the match — and the national championship — for the Ducks.

The Longhorns were trying to win the fourth national crown in the history of their program, having won previously in 1971, 1972 and 2012.

During the 2015-16 season, Texas won seven tournaments, including their fourth Big 12 Conference championship in as many seasons.

Oregon took a 2-0 lead Wednesday when Edwin Yi knocked off UT’s Gavin Hall, 4 and 3. Junior Scottie Scheffler got a win for Texas when he beat NCAA indidual medalist Aaron Wise, 4 and 3. Doug Ghim then tied the match with a victory over Oregon’s Thomas Lim before Raza edged Funk to give the Ducks the championship.

Fields refused to blame the Wednesday’s outcome on Hossler’s injury, but did acknowledge that there’s no way to deny Hossler’s talent and impact on the Texas program.

“Well, I can’t talk about Beau without talking about all five of these guys,” Fields said. “I mean, part of the reason that you become a really fine player is because you’re coached by the other guys, whether it’s Taylor Funk or Scottie Scheffler or Doug Ghim or Gavin Hall. They helped make Beau Hossler what he is today. I will say this, also: We’ve had a lot of great players atTexas, whether it’s Ben Crenshaw, Tom Kite, Justin Leonard, Mark Brooks, Jordan Spieth, just to name a few major champions. So when you’re compared with those guys and you have a chance to win the Player of the Year or the Fred Haskins Award and you’re compared with those guys, well, then you know that you are a powerful difference maker to this program, and that’s what Beau Hossler has been to our program.

“I’m very appreciative of what he’s done for our program over the three years that he’s been here, but I will not detract from what everybody else has done up here because they each push each other, and sitting in front of you to my right or to my left might be the Player of the Year next year. It stings, and they’ll all work harder — I promise you.”

Fields made no effort to hide his reaction to the outcome of Wednesday’s match, and admitted that the disappointment will linger … which could prove beneficial to the Longhorns.

“We have an outstanding team that gave their heart and soul this week,” Fields said. “We had a lot of great things happen. I know everybody here wanted to play just a little bit better and get this done, but we’ll be back next year giving it our all.”

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