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NCAA MEN'S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP

May 28, 2018

Stillwater, Oklahoma

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Oklahoma Garrett Reband and Brad Dalke and Coach Ryan Hybl. Coach Hybl, talk about the day. I know it was a hot one out there. Just talk about today and the expectations going into tomorrow.

RYAN HYBL: Well, we're genuinely just very excited about -- we just walked off the golf course, and these guys played a phenomenal back nine. We were not playing very good on the front. Garett Reband did a great job on the front, and the first group was hanging in there, but outside of that, we had some guys struggling 3-, 4-, 5-over par, and that back nine is very difficult. The wind was blowing around. I thought the hole locations today were much more difficult than what they've been all week, and these guys just dug in their heels and made some birdies when we needed to, and it's just a credit to them and their hard work and their belief system. My man Garett Reband makes about a 50-footer for maybe the best bogey we could have made all week long on 17, and then follows it up with a big-time birdie on 18. Phenomenal. When I was looking at the scores and I saw Brad made a birdie -- was it 12 maybe?

BRAD DALKE: 11.

RYAN HYBL: He made birdie on 11, and it was like that kind of flipped the momentum for the rest of the team. Even though it's odd in college golf, they don't know what's going on but yet they do know what's going on, and that really kind of got the momentum going in a positive direction for us.

THE MODERATOR: Garett, talk about the last two holes. Did you know what you needed to get done the last two holes?

GARETT REBAND: I mean, I knew I was in a good spot. I just had to play the last two holes pretty solid, and I had kind of pulled my tee shot on 17 a little bit, and it just barely snuck into the rough, and it dipped down into a hole and it was not a good lie, and I tried to hack it out, but I left it in there. The next one I got out, pulled my 9-iron to about 40, 45 feet, and probably made one of the best bogey putts I've had made. And then 18 I just played solid. Struck my tee shot and had a good number on 18, just absolutely nuked my 3-wood about 35 yards over the green. And then the up-and-down was honestly one of the best up-and-downs under pressure that I've ever had, so it was good. It was a good finish.

THE MODERATOR: Brad, talk about you made the turn after nine holes. At that point as a team you weren't in the top eight. Talk about the conversation to get things going over the last nine.

BRAD DALKE: Yeah, I mean, I knew we weren't doing too well. I could see the leaderboard on No. 9 green, and we were kind of 3-over, bogeyed 10, both were over par, and I know I'm one of the leaders on this team and have experience, and it took a lot of digging down deep. I just didn't feel right today. I wasn't really sharp. I just dug as deep as I could to try to put the ball in play, hit the ball in the right spots to the greens and try and get some putts to go in. It worked, I was able to make about a 20-footer on 11, hit a nice wedge shot on 12, made birdie, maybe about a 25-footer or so on 15. I just kept the ball in play. And coming down the stretch, 16, 17, 18, you just have to hit the fairway, and I didn't do that on 18. But it was just a really solid back nine, considering I wasn't really feeling my best today. I just wanted to dig deep and just grind it out, and I was proud of myself for being able to do that.

Q. Brad, you guys have been working all season to get back to this point. Do you feel as if there's kind of pressure taken off now that you've gotten to match play, or do you still feel there's a little bit of pressure there?
BRAD DALKE: I think there's definitely pressure, or there definitely was pressure before today. I think this is the most pressure-filled day in college golf. You try to say you're just going out there and try to play your best and not worrying about everything else, but in all reality, everyone out there is worried about that cut line. It's always going to creep in your head a little bit, no matter how hard you try to push it out. I was nervous the last three holes. Those are tough holes, and to be able to finish par-par-par, and I know the other guys dug down and finished well, too. It's just a really pressure-filled day, and to be able to get into the top eight, I feel like this releases off our shoulders and now it's a whole new tournament. It's time to go grind it out.

Q. Garett, what was your mindset today after the scores you had the first three rounds?
GARETT REBAND: My mindset was honestly there really wasn't that much pressure on me today, I just had to go out and play a good round. Obviously my first three rounds were pretty poor. Got some good work in on the range yesterday, and just went out free swinging today, played a good solid round.

Q. Coach, was there any thought in your mind about the substitution rule?
RYAN HYBL: Well, Garett is here for a reason, and he did today what we expect him to do, and that's to dig down as deep as he can and fight for every single shot, and he did that. He stepped up on the first tee box and absolutely striped it, and I know that made him feel good. It made his ol' coach feel real nice. He just kind of plotted his way along the front nine, and I think he turned at even par, went to the back side and just made some things happen. He did what a big-time player has to do in these types of moments. It's what Brad has been able to do, it's fun to watch a new young guy be able to step up there kind of coming down the stretch when we needed it the most. It's always fun to be able to watch our guys be able to do that.

Q. Coach, how different does this golf course play when the wind is up like it was today?
RYAN HYBL: Well, it makes everything harder. It makes your sight lines off the tee boxes be different. Confidence-wise, it's just completely different. You know, a little simple hole like No. 4, you're hitting like a 3-iron off the tee box. I saw half the guys hitting in the junk left and water right there, and that's not that hard of a hole, it just starts messing around with you a little bit. Fortunately our guys are very used to hitting in the type of winds that we saw today, and it wasn't like it was blowing hard.

Now, we didn't maybe do as good of a job on that front nine, but I felt like the front nine was very difficult, and the back nine was, too, but there were some tough hole locations. In particular I felt like on the front side, 17 was difficult, sitting on a little ridge, right on the grain change, too, so they didn't do us any favors there. The golf course is just hard. But you know what, now our guys -- we're going to worry about the golf course, but things change in match play, and so much of it is what's going on within your match.

It's not as much just about the golf course now, which will be nice. It'll free up a lot of guys, not just our guys but everybody out here. You'll probably see a little more aggressive and better-looking golf, if I were to guess.

Q. Does this remind you a lot of the first round of the Big 12? (Indiscernible.) Does that go to character they have?
RYAN HYBL: It is. I mean, it's what we promote through our program. It's a culture that we try and promote within our guys is to not give up any shots when the opportunity presents itself. Now, granted, it is golf, and I'm sure we give up a lot, even this morning on the front nine. But these guys, that's why we love them is they can dig in so deep, and they've shown me time and time and time again, and it starts with our leaders, right, and then it trickles down to our young guys who got to be able to figure that out. That's kind of the combination of what you saw right here, kind of started with Brad early on on the back nine, and then it trickled all the way down to Reband to finish up on 17 and 18. For me, being able to help try and lead these guys, that's really fun for me and my assistant Bill Allcorn, who does a great job with our guys. It's fun to be able to watch your guys go through those moments and have some successes.

Q. Four of the top 18 are from the Big 12. What do you think that says about your conference?
RYAN HYBL: Well, I've gone on record, I feel like we've got the best college golf conference in the country. I really do. We had four of our teams win regionals. Out of the six regionals, four of our Big 12 teams won. We've only had 10 teams -- is that right, seven of our Big 12 teams made it to the national championship? It's very strong. It's always been very good, and we're just really, really fired up that we're part of this situation, and to be here in our home state with an opportunity, that's what we're looking for is an opportunity. Our guys put ourselves with that opportunity starting tomorrow morning.

Q. Brad talked about the sense of relief getting through today and getting to match play tomorrow. Your feelings on that, too? Is there a sense of relief for you?
RYAN HYBL: Yeah, I think every step that you go through, there is a little bit of sense of relief. It all started back with regionals. You know, everybody just automatically assumed that we were hosting at our home place that we're going to make it through regionals. It's not -- that's not a very good assumption. We ended up winning, but it starts at regionals, and then when you make it here, there's one cut line, there's two cut lines, and to Brad's thought process, as a coach, we're always thinking about what's going on, and I don't want them to think about it, but we're always thinking about it. So yes, there's definitely a sense of relief. I've gotten that question a lot this week about the pressure of defending. That was a year ago. I mean, this morning on the driving range, I haven't had that feeling since this time last year, and I don't think these guys have felt that, either.

So the pressure honestly is on us. We're not favored here this week, and we like that.

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