OOLTEWAH, TENN.—"Do you have an oxygen tank?" asked Stanford coach Conrad Ray as he stood behind the 18th green at The Honors Course.
He was being facetious, of course, but there were definitely some anxious moments early Friday morning as Stanford faced off with Arizona State and San Diego to try and secure the eighth and final spot in the match-play field at the 2010 NCAA Championship.
In the end, Ray could breath again as Sihwan Kim made a birdie on the 17th hole to push the Cardinal (one under) past San Diego (even par) on the second playoff hole.
"That was tough," Ray said. "We had a short night sleep and were just kind of grinding. It was exciting for the guys. We talked about just getting another chance at it today."
With three teams in the mix, the five players from each school played on five separate holes, with the best four scores counting toward the team total. Stanford and San Diego each shot two under on the first playoff hole, eliminating Arizona State, who could only muster one birdie.
As Stanford's reward for winning the playoff, the Cardinal faces top-seed Oklahoma State in a match-up of teams that held the No. 1 and 2 spots in the Golf World/Nike Golf coaches' poll for most of the 2009-10 season.
"You're going to have to play them some time," Ray said. "II think our guys are excited about he match up. We know them well."
__NCAA QUARTERFINALS
No. 4 Washington vs. No. 5 Oregon
__9 a.m.—Charlie Hughes vs. Jake Dukeminier
9:09—Darren Wallace vs. Isaiah Telles
9:18—Richard Lee vs. Andrew Vijarro
9:27—Chris Williams vs. Daniel Miernicki
9:36—Nick Taylor vs. Eugene Wong
__No. 1 Oklahoma State vs. No. 8 Stanford
__9:45—Sean Einhaus vs. Joseph Bramlett
9:54—Trent Whitekiller vs. Andrew Yun
10:03—Kevin Tway vs. Sihwan Kim
10:12—Peter Uihlein vs. David Chung
10:21—Morgan Hoffmann vs. Steve Ziegler
__No. 2 Florida State vs. No. 7 Texas Tech
__10:30—Michael Hebert vs. Findley Ewing IV
10:39—Wesley Graham vs. Tyler Weworski
10:48—Seath Lauer vs. Matt Smith
10:57—Brooks Koepka vs. Chris Ward
11:06—Drew Kittleson vs. Nils Floren
__No. 3 Georgia Tech vs. No. 6 Augusta State
__11:15—Paul Haley vs. Carter Newman
11:24—Kyle Scott vs. Taylor Floyd
11:33—James White vs. Mitch Krywulycz
11:42—Chesson Hadley vs. Patrick Reed
11:51—J.T. Griffin vs. Henrik Norlander
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