BELLEAIR, Fla. — Oklahoma women's golf turned in its best SEC Championship stroke play performance in over a decade Sunday, tying for second at 3-under par and earning the No. 3 seed heading into match play.
The No. 27 Sooners (T2, -3) secured their spot in the eight-team match-play bracket after 54 holes, advancing to the head-to-head portion that will decide the conference champion. Oklahoma tied with Texas for second but claimed the No. 3 seed via drop-score tiebreakers.
OU opens match play Monday at 7:50 a.m. CT against No. 6 seed (18th-ranked) Tennessee in the quarterfinals. With a win, the Sooners would advance to face either No. 2-seeded (fifth-ranked) Texas or No. 7-seeded (fourth-ranked) Texas A&M in the semifinals.
"I'm really proud of our team this weekend," OU head coach
Veronique Drouin-Luttrell said. "We put ourselves in a great position with our play the last two days and showed a lot of resilience in round three. We're excited for the opportunity ahead in match play."
Oklahoma delivered one of its most complete conference championship performances in recent memory, placing four golfers inside the top 20 — a feat the program hadn't accomplished since its 2014 Big 12 title run.
Senior
Savannah Barber led the charge, tying for eighth at 4-under par across three rounds. Her 207 (-3) marked her best career finish at a conference championship.
Fellow senior
Reagan Chaney closed with an even-par 70 to finish tied for 12th at 1-under in her final conference championship appearance.
Senior
Gracie Mayo carded a 1-under 69 — Oklahoma's low round of the day — to climb into a tie for 16th, while sophomore
Audrey Rischer added a top-20 finish, tying for 19th at 1-over.
Freshman
Satonkan (Earn) Thiengsri rounded out the lineup, finishing tied for 72nd at 17 over.
The match play field, in seed order, is: No. 3 Florida, No. 5 Texas, No. 27 Oklahoma, No. 8 Auburn, No. 21 Ole Miss, No. 18 Tennessee, No. 4 Texas A&M and No. 14 Vanderbilt.
The SEC semifinals will stream Monday afternoon on SEC Network+, with the championship match airing Tuesday on SEC Network. Quarterfinals action will not be televised, though live scoring will be available on
Clippd.
Florida's Paula Francisco claimed medalist honors at 8-under par.
In match play, each team competes in five individual matches. The first team to win three matches advances.
OU vs. Tennessee Match-Play Pairings
- Reagan Chaney (OU) vs. Sophie Christopher - 7:50 a.m. CT
- Satonkan (Earn) Thiengsri (OU) vs. Manassanan Chotikabhukk - 8:00 a.m. CT
- Audrey Rischer (OU) vs. Sofie Engesaeth - 8:10 a.m. CT
- Gracie Mayo (OU) vs. Kyra Van Kan - 8:20 a.m. CT
- Savannah Barber (OU) vs. Madison Messimer - 8:30 a.m. CT