TicketsHOUSTON -- The Cincinnati men's golf team fell to top-seeded and No. 2 Arizona State in the morning session, but it regrouped to rout No. 8-seed Iowa State in Monday's nightcap of Big 12 Match Play.
Junior Ryan Ford earned a signature win, defeating Josele Ballester in his morning event. Ballester is a three-time Honorable Mention All-American who was the 2023 European Amateur Champion before winning the U.S. edition of it in 2024. Ford was the only one to win each of his matchups.
"This event is just one of the best in college golf," head coach Doug Martin said. "Match Play is so much different than stroke play and often times brings out the best in players. What a victory for Ryan Ford in the morning match. Beating the No. 1 ranked player and US Amateur Champion is pretty special. Team-wise, the morning match presented a tremendous challenge against preseason No. 1 ranked team in the country. We had our opportunities just missed the chance.
"In the afternoon Iowa State has great program and fantastic team this year. The match was very hard fought we were just very fortunate to come away with the victory. All four of our wins were finished off by some great play by our guys."
The Bearcats will face a team from Pool D (TCU, Texas Tech, Baylor, Colorado) on Tuesday afternoon, and they are off Tuesday morning due to it having a shortened pod. Only 15 teams are competing this week, with Arizona out due to pre-existing schedule conflicts.
Arizona State 4, Cincinnati 1
Ford def. Ballester, 3&2
Wernicke def. McNeely, 3&1
Summerhays def. McDonald, 3&2
Williams def. Wotherspoon, 4&3
Mjaaseth def. Senn, 5&4
Cincinnati 4, Iowa State 1
Metcalf def. McDonald, 3&2
Senn def. Gutschewski, 1up
McNeely def. May, 3&1
Ford def. Sawyer, 1up
Wotherspoon def. Beauvy, 1up
Junior Ryan Ford earned a signature win, defeating Josele Ballester in his morning event. Ballester is a three-time Honorable Mention All-American who was the 2023 European Amateur Champion before winning the U.S. edition of it in 2024. Ford was the only one to win each of his matchups.
"This event is just one of the best in college golf," head coach Doug Martin said. "Match Play is so much different than stroke play and often times brings out the best in players. What a victory for Ryan Ford in the morning match. Beating the No. 1 ranked player and US Amateur Champion is pretty special. Team-wise, the morning match presented a tremendous challenge against preseason No. 1 ranked team in the country. We had our opportunities just missed the chance.
"In the afternoon Iowa State has great program and fantastic team this year. The match was very hard fought we were just very fortunate to come away with the victory. All four of our wins were finished off by some great play by our guys."
The Bearcats will face a team from Pool D (TCU, Texas Tech, Baylor, Colorado) on Tuesday afternoon, and they are off Tuesday morning due to it having a shortened pod. Only 15 teams are competing this week, with Arizona out due to pre-existing schedule conflicts.
Arizona State 4, Cincinnati 1
Ford def. Ballester, 3&2
Wernicke def. McNeely, 3&1
Summerhays def. McDonald, 3&2
Williams def. Wotherspoon, 4&3
Mjaaseth def. Senn, 5&4
Cincinnati 4, Iowa State 1
Metcalf def. McDonald, 3&2
Senn def. Gutschewski, 1up
McNeely def. May, 3&1
Ford def. Sawyer, 1up
Wotherspoon def. Beauvy, 1up