Men’s golf heads to NCAA final without injured Hossler

By Steve Lansdale

EUGENE, Ore. — The No. 1-ranked University of Texas men’s golf team knocked off No. 8 Oklahoma (4-1) and No. 4 USC (4-1) Tuesday to head to the 2016 National Championship match against No. 6 Oregon at Eugene Country Club. But the Longhorns will be facing the No. 6 Ducks on their home course without their top player, junior Beau Hossler, who bowed out of Tuesday’s match with an injured shoulder that he said was “popping in and out.”

The Texas-Oregon match will be the Longhorns’ first in an NCAA final since 2002 and will be shown at 5 p.m. on the Golf Channel. Texas has won the national championship three times before, in 1972, 1973 and 2012.

All five Texas golfers[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level1)] scored during the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds, with sophomore Doug Ghim, junior Gavin Hall and Hossler all scoring in both rounds.

Ghim knocked off OU’s Max McGreevy in the morning, 7 and 6, and USC’s Justin Suh in the semifinal round, 4 and 3. Ghim will tee off at 4:50 p.m. CT, facing Oregon’s Thomas Lim in the final round.

Hall beat OU’s Brad Dalke, 4 and 3, in the quarterfinal round and USC’s Jonah Texeira, 4 and 3, in the semifinals. Hall will be the first to tee off for Texas at 4:10 p.m. CT, taking on Oregon’s Edwin Yi.

Hossler topped OU’s Blaine Hale, 1UP. The match was decided before finishing on 18, giving Hossler a 1UP victory. In the semifinal round, Hossler defeated USC’s Andrew Levitt, 2 and 1, to clinch the win for Texas. Hossler was scheduled to take on Oregon’s Zach Foushee before determining earlier Wednesday that he was unable to play.

Sophomore Scottie Scheffler lost to Oklahoma’s Luke Kwon in the quarterfinals, but bounced back with a victory over USC’s Sean Crocker in the semifinal round, 1UP. Scheffler will face off with Oregon’s Aaron Wise at 4:20 p.m. CT.

Sophomore Taylor Funk came up with a critical victory for UT when he defeated OU’s Grant Hirschman, 6 and 4. He will face Oregon’s Sulman Raza.

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