The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
No. 6 Washington
Men's Golf blanks Washington 5-0 to advance to NCAA Championship semifinals
06.01.2012 | Men's Golf
June 1, 2012
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. -- The top-ranked Texas Men's Golf team advanced to tomorrow's semifinal round of match play at the NCAA Championship with a 5-0 win over No. 6-seed Washington on Friday afternoon at Riviera Country Club.
Third-seeded Texas will face seventh-seeded Oregon at 12:45 p.m. Central on Saturday. The Ducks won a 3-2 decision over second-seeded UCLA in an earlier match to advance.
Sophomore Toni Hakula got the Longhorns started with a 3 & 2 victory over Charlie Hughes. Hakula won the third and fifth holes to go 2 Up, but Hughes rallied back on the sixth and seventh holes to square the match. Hakula closed out his opponent by winning holes 11, 12 and 16 for Texas' first point.
Freshman Jordan Spieth put the Longhorns up 2-0 with a 4 & 3 win over Ty Chambers. The duo was all square through the first three holes, but Spieth surged ahead with wins on four, five and seven. After dropping the ninth hole, Spieth took a commanding 4 Up lead with back-to-back victories on the 11th and 12th holes. The duo matched one another on 13, 14 and 15.
Senior Dylan Frittelli battled throughout the first 13 holes with opponent Cheng-Tsung Pan. Pan won the 16th hole after Frittelli went to 3 Up with wins on 14 and 15 and forced the match to the 17th hole. The duo halved the hole and Frittelli won 2 & 1 to clinch Texas' victory.
Junior Cody Gribble was the only Longhorn to play Riviera's full course. Gribble and Trevor Simsby were all square through 16 holes before Gribble won on 17. Gribble finished his round with a 2 Up victory when Simsby conceded the 18th hole.
Junior Julio Vegas led Chris Williams from the fourth to 16 holes before his match was concluded and he was credited with a 2 & 1 victory.
2012 NCAA Championship Quarterfinal Results
Riviera Country Club
Texas vs. Washington (in order of finish) | 5-0
Toni Hakula def. Charlie Hughes - 3 & 2
Jordan Spieth def. Ty Chambers - 4 & 3
Dylan Frittelli def. Cheng-Tsung Pan - 2 & 1
Cody Gribble def. Trevor Simsby - 2 UP
Julio Vegas def. Chris Williams - 2 & 1
Semifinal Pairings (Central time, Texas player v. Oregon player)
12:45 p.m. - Toni Hakula vs. Robbie Ziegler
12:54 p.m. - Cody Gribble vs. Jonathan Woo
1:03 p.m. - Dylan Frittelli vs. Daniel Miernicki
1:12 p.m. - Julio Vegas vs. Andrew Vijarro
1:21 p.m. - Jordan Spieth vs. Eugene Wong
POST-MATCH COMMENTS
Texas Head Coach John Fields
On Texas' quarterfinal match against Washington: We turned well on 10, 11, 12 and 13, and managed to get two- and three-up in several matches, but that didn't matter. When you're playing against a quality team like Washington, you know those guys aren't going to give up. They're not going to quit, they're not going to do anything other than get after it. And they did. So I'm really proud of our guys. I congratulate (Washington head coach) Matt Thurmond on a great year. He has a fantastic team - a first-team All-American, a Walker-er Cupper - and we knew that we were going to have our hands full today. So we never let down. Ever. There was some emotion involved there.
Senior Dylan Frittelli
On turning his back to his opponent's putts: I took myself out of it. If he makes it, he makes it, and if he doesn't, he doesn't. I don't want to see it, it's how I take myself out of each hole.
On Texas' team effort: You can say we were in a dominant position, but when you look up at the scoreboard and we're see one- or two-up on all five guys, it's really easy to change that situation from the other teams' point of view. If they win two holes, all of a sudden the momentum is going the other way. So I never felt like we were on top and I tried to close out my match as soon as I could.
On earning the clinching point for Texas: There's really not any type of extra emotion. It's just one of the five points in the match. I didn't really know it at the time.
Washington Head Coach Matt Thurmond
On Washington's quarterfinal loss: I'm disappointed, but I've had losses that hurt a lot worse. That team just played awesome. I thought we played pretty well today. We did what we wanted to do, we didn't give them a lot of holes and make many mistakes. They just played amazing. I don't know even if we played our best today if we could have beat them. That's a very different feeling than if you blew it and knew you should have had it. Props to Texas for a great day.
