Alas, the storybook finish was not to be.

Clark, the Pac-12 champion and Player of the Year, was trying to help lead the University of Oregon to its second consective NCAA team title — but first with him on the roster.

The Ducks squeaked into the eight-team match play bracket and scored 3-2 wins in the quarterfinals and semifinals, knocking off the team stroke-play medalist Vanderbilt to get to the finals. But the University of Oklahoma denied the Pac-12 champions the repeat on Wednesday at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill., beating Oregon 3-1, with one draw.

Clark — winner of three individual titles this season and the No. 1-ranked individual in college golf according to Golfweek — was the lone Oregon player to prevail in his match in the finals. He defeated Oklahoma’s Rylee Reinertson 1 up, giving the Highlands Ranch resident a 2-1 record in his three individual matches. Clark clinched his victory on Wednesday with a win on the 18th hole, where he drained a big-breaking 15-foot eagle putt.

On Monday, Clark had finished 51st in the stroke-play portion of the championship.

In front of a national TV audience on the Golf Channel, Oklahoma won the first two matches on Wednesday, and the Sooners needed to prevail in just one of the last three to claim its second national title in men’s golf. Clark won his match and teammate Ryan Gronlund halved his, but Oklahoma’s Brad Dalke pulled away from Sulman Raza on the back nine to post a championship-clinching 2 and 1 victory.

Clark, a first-team All-American as a senior, has said he plans to turn pro shortly after concluding his college career.

Men’s NCAA Division I Finals
May 26-31, 2017 in Sugar Grove, Ill.

MATCH PLAY FINALS
Team: Oklahoma def. Oregon, 3-1-1
Individual: Coloradan Wyndham Clark, Oregon, def. Rylee Reinertson, Oklahoma, 1 up

MATCH PLAY SEMIFINALS
Team: Oregon def. Vanderbilt, 3-2
Individually: Coloradan Wyndham Clark, Oregon, def. Will Gordon, Vanderbilt, 4 and 3

MATCH PLAY QUARTERFINALS
Team: Oregon def. Oklahoma State, 3-2
Individually: Viktor Hovland, Oklahoma State, def. Coloradan Wyndham Clark, Oregon, 2 and 1

STROKE PLAY
51. Coloradan Wyndham Clark, Oregon 74-69-72-81–296
Missed 54-Hole Cut
138. Coloradan Josh Seiple, Mississippi 74-76-82–232

For complete results, CLICK HERE.
 

The fifth-year senior for the University of Oregon eagled the 18th hole for the second time in three days to earn a tie for the individual title Sunday at the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate in Palm Desert, Calif.

Clark (pictured in a University of Oregon photo), the No. 1-ranked men’s college player in the nation, shared the top spot with UO teammate Norman Xiong by making up five strokes in Sunday’s final round. 

Clark, who went bogey-free for the last two rounds at the Classic Club, shot rounds of 72-65-68 for an 11-under-par 205 total.

It marked his second individual win in three spring tournaments over the course of the last month. In six college tournaments this season, Clark has finished second, third, sixth, first, 10th and first. The two wins this year are the first of his five-year college career, which started at Oklahoma State.

With Clark and Xiong tying for the individual title, Oregon fended off the University of Colorado for the team championship. The Buffs, ranked 21st in the nation by Golfweek, posted a 17-under-par 847 total, ending up nine behind the Ducks. CU carded a 266 total in Saturday’s second round, the best single-round total in men’s college golf this season.

The Buffs have finished in the top five in every stroke-play tournament they’ve competed in this season.

Senior Jeremy Paul finished a season-best third for Colorado, checking in three strokes behind Clark and Xiong after closing with a 71. It was Paul’s fourth top-10 of the season.

Also placing in the top 10 Sunday was fellow CU senior Ethan Freeman, who tied for ninth at 213 after a 72 on Sunday. Freeman, like Clark a two-time Colorado state high school champion, notched his sixth top-10 individual showing of the season.

Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate
Feb. 17-19, 2017 (final) in Palm Desert, Calif.
2. (out of 22 teams) Colorado 291-266-290–847
3. Jeremy Paul 73-64-71–208
9. Ethan Freeman 75-66-72–213
17. John Souza 75-67-74–216
22. Spencer Painton 69-75-73–217
27. Yannik Paul 74-69-75–218
53. Wilson Belk (competing only as individual) 79-71-74–224
80. Ryan Schmitz (competing only as individual) 76-69-83–228
90. Victor Bjorlow (competing only as individual) 76-77-77–230

12. Denver 304-293-294–891
31. Petter Mikalsen 71-74-74–219
42. Jake Kelley 75-72-74–221
72. Eric Hagen 79-74-74–227
90. Isaac Petersilie 79-74-77–230
124. Chris Korte X-73-72
96. Roy Kang (competing only as individual) 79-75-77–231
101. Troy Dangler (competing only as individual) 84-75-74–233

Also
T1. Coloradan Wyndham Clark, Oregon 72-65-68–205
31. Coloradan Glenn Workman, Wyoming 76-73-70–219
 

Noemi Jimenez was named the Pac-12 Conference’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year in women’s golf on Sunday for her performance in the classroom. And on Wednesday she’d like nothing better than to pull off a clean sweep of sorts by winning the conference title.

The senior at Arizona State, who’s No. 6 in the women’s world amateur golf rankings, made a nice first step in that regard on Monday by posting one of just two sub-70 scores at Boulder Country Club in the first round of the 54-hole Pac-12 Conference meet.

Jimenez, a Spaniard, eagled her first hole (No. 10) from 25 feet on Monday — “it was a great eagle, I have to say,” she said — en route to a 2-under-par 69. That leaves the 2014 NCAA West Regional champion two strokes behind leader Caroline Inglis, a junior at Oregon.

“It would be the best week of the year” to capture both the scholarship award and the league title, said Jimenez (pictured above), who owns a 3.8 grade-point average as an Interdisciplinary Studies major. “I was really happy for the prize I received yesterday, so why not? If I can win the tournament too, that would be awesome. It would be really nice because I’m a senior.”

Inglis, who has posted top-10 finishes in each of her last four tournaments, made five birdies in her 67 on Monday. Six players joined Inglis and Jimenez in breaking par by opening with 70s. That includes UCLA’s Bronte Law, the No. 7-ranked women’s amateur in the world, and Stanford’s Mariah Stackhouse, who started her round with an eagle on the 389-yard, par-4 first hole.

With an even-par 284 total, Oregon leads the way team-wise in the Pac-12 meet, which features nine programs ranked in the top 40 in the nation. The Ducks entered the week No. 7 out of the Pac-12 teams, so it’s quite an upset that they’re on top after round 1. Defending champion Stanford (286) is second, while UCLA, ranked third in the country, is third at 287.

The host University of Colorado sits in eighth place at 296 despite its No. 1 player, sophomore Esther Lee, struggling to a 76, a score four strokes above her spring average.

“We’re a little disappointed,” CU coach Anne Kelly said. “It wasn’t our best start — a couple of the players did mention they were more nervous on the first tee today than they have been for a long time — but the team seemed to settle in and finished up pretty well. Unfortunately, Esther just had a bad day. She’s a great player, but in golf that happens. I’m proud of the other girls for stepping up and playing pretty well.”

Junior Alexis Keating led the way for CU with a 1-over-par 72, good for 12th place after a three-putt bogey on the 18th hole.

“I’m feeling really good about everything, but I just needed a few more putts to drop,” she said. “There were a couple of tough pin placements but it was a ton of fun. It had a blast.”

Inglis (left) seemed to have a better handle on the greens than just about anyone as she holed “five or six” putts of longer than 15 feet.

“It was a good day. It was fun,” she said. “I putted really well. I didn’t even hit the ball that well, but my putting was really good today. I wasn’t hitting it close, but I was making a lot of 15-, 20-, 25-footers, which isn’t always the case in golf. It was pretty nice to have some of those go in. … I know my game and I know I’m cable of going low, (but) 67 is an awesome score.”

Inglis’ Oregon team is ranked No. 28 in the nation, according to Golfstat — which is pretty good, but not great by Pac-12 standards.

“Going into postseason, it’s kind of ‘go time’,” she said. “It’s time to peak and play well. It’s a great start to the tournament. Hopefully we can follow it up with more good rounds.”

Meanwhile, 2013 NCAA champion Annie Park from Southern California opened with a 74 and shares 26th place.

For all the team and individual scores, CLICK HERE.
 

Here are the local scores for the various conference tournaments being played early this week.

Pac-12 Women
April 20-22, 2015 at Par-71 Boulder CC
8. (out of 11 teams) Colorado 296
12. Alexis Keating 72; 21. Brittany Fan 73; 33. Natalie Vivaldi 75; 37. Esther Lee 76; 49. Jamie Oleksiew 79.

Summit League Women
April 20-22, 2015 in Seaside, Calif.
T1. (out of 9 teams) Denver 307
*1. Jessica Carty 74; *7. Elyse Smidinger 77; *7. Mariell Bruun 77; *13. Isabel Southard 79; 25. Aleana Groenhout 83.
* — indicates an All-Summit League first-team player.

Mountain West Women
April 20-22, 2015 in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
7. (out of 9 teams) Colorado State 304
9. Allie Andersen 74; 14. Mikayla Tatman 75; 24. Jessa LaBarbera 77; 29. Sarah Archuleta 78; 41. Elisabeth Rau 82.
Also
3. Former Coloradan Paige Spiranac, San Diego State, 72; 14. Coloradan Samantha Stancato, Wyoming, 75; 24. Coloradan Taylor Dorans, Wyoming, 77.

Big Sky Women
April 19-21, 2015 in Chandler, Ariz.
7. (out of 12 teams) Northern Colorado 303-312–615
2. Amanda Myers 71-72–143; 28. Baile Winslow 78-78–156; 37. Nicole Okada 76-82–158; 41. Christina Ferreira 78-81–159; 50. Kala Keltz 89-81–170.
Also
33. Coloradan Jaylee Tait, Montana State, 81-76–157.

RMAC Women
April 20-21, 2015 in Avondale, Ariz.
Colorado-Based Team Scores — 1. Metro State 301; 3. CSU-Pueblo 308; 4. Regis 310; 5. Colorado Mesa 314; 6. Adams State 315; 7. CU-Colorado Springs 318; 8. Colorado Christian 334; 12. Fort Lewis 372.
Top 5 Individuals — 1. (tie) Leina Kim, CSU-Pueblo 69; Mary Driscol, Western New Mexico 69; 3. (tie) Cha Cha Willhoite, Metro State, 72; Bobbi Pierson, Western New Mexico 72; 5. (tie) Julie Sanchez, CSU-Pueblo, 74; Nathalie Gallacher, Metro State, 74; Nicole Hulbert, Regis, 74.

RMAC Men
April 20-21, 2015 in Goodyear, Ariz.
Colorado-Based Team Scores — 1. Colorado School of Mines 300-281–581; 3. CSU-Pueblo 292-296–588; 4. Colorado Christian 296-303–599; 5. CU-Colorado Springs 304-300–604 and Colorado Mesa 302-302–604; 7. Regis 293-314–607; 8. Fort Lewis 329-310–639; 9. Adams State 323-327–650.
Top 5 Individuals — 1. Nick Berry, Mines, 74-64–138; 2. Patrick Skakel, CU-Colorado Springs, 70-71–141; 3. (tie) Nathaniel Goddard, Colorado Christian, 74-74–145; Conrad Smith, Mines, 75-70–145; 5. (tie) Hayden Ritter, CSU-Pueblo, 73-73–146; Calum Hill, Western New Mexico, 72-74–146.