Ohio State is looking for a different kind of postseason purpose at National Golf Invitational
Ohio State is looking for a different kind of postseason purpose at National Golf Invitational
The past two postseasons have been dramatically different for Ohio State. A year ago, the Buckeyes lineup included four seniors and a redshirt freshman, and that squad battled all the way to the semifinal match at the NCAA Championship. This year, at No. 75 in the national rankings after a fifth-place finish in the Big 10, they weren't selected to the NCAA Championship field at all.
Head coach Jay Moseley realized his team would probably be on the outside looking in as they traveled home from the conference championship on April 27. He gave his team a bit of tough love.
'Look, this isn't how our season is supposed to end,' he told them that evening, 'and that should leave some pain and suffering that gets you guys fired up and ready to go for next year.'
His men agreed.
National Golf Invitational: Scores
The next morning, however, Moseley started talking with his administration about competing in the National Golf Invitational. He called a meeting with the team at noon that day and met with a squad that still had the deer-in-the-headlights look of being at such a low point 14 hours earlier. Regardless, the team aligned on what a different kind of postseason event could do in terms of building momentum for next season.
The NGI is in its third year, and this year more than ever it's apparent that it can mean different things to different teams. Ohio State, for example, leads the 10-team field at 18 under through 36 holes, but the Buckeyes started the day trailing Utah State by a shot. The Aggies haven't been selected to the postseason since 1981.
Only one player on this season's 10-man Ohio State roster has played in an NCAA regional. The core of Moseley's lineup this season included three sophomores and two freshmen. Through two rounds, Moseley's decision to rally his squad for an NGI start looks like a savvy coaching move indeed.
Ak-Chin Southern Dunes in Maricopa, Arizona, is a course where Moseley sees a lot of scoring opportunities. Scores were slightly higher in Saturday's second round across the board as winds picked up, but Moseley liked the venue as much as the tournament itself because he felt like it was a golf course that would create opportunities to work on some targeted areas of development for Ohio State – namely, wedge play.
'Wedge play this spring has certainly not been up to our standards so coming out here we felt like we could really get a good sense of where we've made progress the last couple weeks,' Moseley said. 'For the most part, we've done a really good job of creating scoring opportunities, hitting wedges close to be able to roll in some putts, making some birdies, which has been good to see.'
There's another huge advantage to competing at Southern Dunes: The course is set to host a men's regional in 2026 and, as Moseley noted, you have a one-in-six chance of going to any regional venue on a given year.
'We've kind of enjoyed being together – big eyes mindset, their approach this week has kind of been let's run it back one more time this year and leave everything out there and go out and play with as much belief and as much trust as we can in each other and get some momentum going into next year when essentially everybody is back for at least a couple years,' he said.
Entering the final round, Ohio State has just a one-shot lead on Utah State, a team that just finished sixth in the Mountain West Conference Championship for its best conference finish in 12 years. The two teams have opened up a sizable gap on the rest of the field, with West Virginia sitting in third at 8 under and Oregon State fourth at 7 under.
Oregon State's Bradley Smolinski and Utah State's Enrique Karg are tied for first in the individual race at 9 under.
Joe Wilson IV has been Ohio State's leading scorer so far this week, and at 7 under, is only two off the individual lead. The junior underwent double hip and ab surgery 18 months ago and missed all of last season recovering.
'He's been a good shot in the arm for us coming off of basically nine months of no competition and not a lot of physical golf at all,' Moseley said.
Timotej Formanek, a freshman from the Czech Republic, has adapted well to desert golf, too, this week and contributed rounds of 70-69.
Ohio State leads the field in par-4 and par-5 scoring and has made more birdies than any team.
'We've definitely got some guys that can play well out here, we just need to sharpen up some wedge play and clean up some short game on the par 3s,' Moseley said. 'We'll be in a good spot coming down the stretch tomorrow, hopefully.'
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