Featured Golf News
Texas A&M Wins NCAA Golf Championship
Texas A&M won its first national title in men's golf in dramatic fashion, beating Arkansas on the final hole with a great shot by its top-ranked player.
The Aggies' Bronson Burgoon was 120 yards from the hole in deep rough on No. 18 at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, when he mashed a gap wedge into the wind. The ball landed on the green, rolled and stopped just 3 inches away for a gimme birdie to give A&M.
His opponent, Arkansas' Andrew Landry, who had won the previous four holes to tie the match, still had a chance, but he missed his 35-foot birdie try, giving a 3 and 2 win over the Razorbacks.
"I couldn't have drawn it up any better," Burgoon told reporters. "This is better than any dream I ever had in my life."
"He (Burgoon) pulled off the best shot of the tournament," said Arkansas coach Brad McMakin.
Landry and Burgoon, both natives of south Texas, are good friends and often play together. Landry knew his opponent had the skills, but he sure didn't think Burgoon would make that amazing a shot. "Bronson's a great player, first off," he said. "Not only is he a great player, he's strong. He had no problem all day getting out of the rough. I figured he'd get it on the green."
Texas A&M's head coach was pleased with Burgoon's heroics. "He's a great performer and he came through in the end," J.T. Higgins said.
The Aggies started the final match ready to romp, with Andrea Pavan beating David Lingmerth 7 and 6. John Hurley also had a big win, beating Ethan Tracy 6-and-4.
But Arkansas's Jamie Marshall beat Conrad Shindler 3 and 2, and Jason Cuthbertson took a 3-and-1 victory over Matt Van Zandt to tie the championship up, putting the weight of the outcome on the Burgoon-Landry match.
Burgoon was sailing along after taking a 2-up lead at the turn; he built his lead to 4 up through 13 holes. But then Landry started playing steadier, while Burgoon had difficulty with his drives. On No. 17, Landry carded a par while Burgoon notched a bogey, setting up the final-hole theatrics.
Asked what he thought while Burgoon's lead melted away, Higgins started to laugh. "I'm just hoping he pulls his head out," he said. "I'm like, 'Don't be stubborn here, just hit the ball in the fairway. You don't have to be great, you just have to be good.' But the thing that makes him a great player is he's got a little stubborn streak in him. He probably was saying, 'This is the way I'm going to play it.' That wasn't working out at the time."
Then came Burgoon's magical shot. "Right when it came off my club face I knew it was going to be good," he said. "I just didn't know how good. It ended up better than I could have imagined."
