Match game begins at NCAA Championship

__STILLWATER, Okla.—__And then there were eight.

Eight contenders for the NCAA team title that is.

Thursday's third round of stroke-play qualifying at Karsten Creek GC narrowed the 30-team field down to eight schools advancing to match play. UCLA claimed the No. 1 seed with a 10-over 298 showing over the final 18 holes for a eight-over 872 total, three strokes better than Georgia Tech.

Defending NCAA champion Augusta State survived the bubble by two strokes, while 2009 champion Texas A&M wasn't so fortunate, finishing in ninth place, one stroke back of No. 8 Duke.

Surprisingly, perhaps, two Big Ten programs remain alive—Illinois and Ohio State—yet only one SEC school—Georgia—is still playing. Not so surprisingly host Oklahoma State, the heavy favorite entering the week, also has more golf left this week, although the No. 3 seed might seem like a bit of a let down.

Regardless of how the eight finished up stroke-play qualifying, however, all of them have an equal chance at taking the national championship come Sunday.

"The goal was to be playing come Friday," said UCLA coach Derek Freeman. "We're happy to be doing that and looking forward to match play."

Friday's quarterfinal round has some intriguing storylines:

__FRIDAY QUARTERFINALS

(All times Eastern)

__

__No. 1 UCLA vs. No. 8 Duke

__10 a.m.—Alex Kim vs. Austin Cody

10:09—Pedro Figueiredo vs. Julian Suri

10:18—Gregor Main vs. Wes Roach

10:27—Pontus Widegren vs. Tim Gornik

10:36—Patrick Cantlay vs. Brinson Paolini

__No. 4 Illinois vs. No. 5 Georgia

__10:45—Mason Jacobs vs. Bryden MacPherson

10:54—Thomas Pieters vs. T.J. Mitchell

11:03—Chris DeForest vs. Hudson Swafford

11:12—Scott Langley vs. Russell Henley

11:21—Luke Guthrie vs. Harris English

__No. 2 Georgia Tech vs. No. 7 Augusta State

__11:30—Richy Werenski vs. Olle Bengtsson

11:39—Paul Haley vs. Carter Newman

11:48—Kyle Scott vs. Mitch Krywulycz

11:57—J.T. Griffin vs. Henrik Norlander

12:06—James White vs. Patrick Reed

__No. 3 Oklahoma State vs. No. 6 Ohio State

__12:15—Talor Gooch vs. Alex Redfield

12:24—Sean Einhaus vs. Michael Cress

12:33—Morgan Hoffmann vs. Dan Charen

12:42—Kevin Tway vs. Brad Smith

12:51—Peter Uihlein vs. Bo Hoag