 "Photo: Dan Miller —University of Toledo (Ohio)")
The Texas A&M men's golf team completed its run to the national championship in dramatic fashion Saturday afternoon at Inverness Golf Club in Toledo, Ohio. Senior Bronson Burgoon, A&M's No. 1 player, had lost four straight holes in match play to Arkansas' Andrew Landry to make the final hole all square.
Landry hit his drive down the middle of the par 4 and Burgoon hit the right rough. Landry's second shot hit the edge of the green and Burgoon's almost went in on an ace before finishing inches from the hole. Landry pulled his putt to the right in a shot that would have forced sudden death overtime. Burgoon then completed the weekend by scoring a birdie to win the final hole and give the Aggies their first national title in golf.
"After it started rolling I was like please go in," Burgoon said. "I was struggling the last four holes. I put more pressure on myself than I should have. The last hole something happened for me and seemed to click."
The championship is A&M's first team title since 1987 when softball took home the crown.
"A lot goes through my mind," said Head Coach JT Higgins. "It's been a long road. When we started here eight years ago we were a long way from being national champs. It was a long process to get great players like Bronson, John, Andrea, Conrad and Matt. Just putting together a team that has a chance to compete. I was really just happy for the kids. I love them, they're like my own."
A&M's No. 2 player, junior Andrea Pavan, downed David Lingmerth 7 and 6 while No. 3 sophomore John Hurley defeated Ethan Tracy 6 and 4. Combined with Burgoon they accounted for three Aggie wins. Arkansas Razorbacks Jason Cuthbertson and Jaime Marshall defeated senior Matt Van Zandt and sophomore Conrad Shindler respectively for their two wins.
With the Aggies and Razorbacks tied 2-2 it seemed A&M was poised to cruise to a title; Burgoon was 4-up through 13 holes. Then Landry began playing nearly perfect golf while Burgoon could only find trouble.
"I'm just really pumped up how it came down to the final hole," Landry said. "I just knew I had to dig down a little bit to come back. I felt I could get this whole match back to square and I did. He just hit a great shot and there is nothing I can do about that."
Though Burgoon hit a bunker and bogeyed on the 14th, Landry made par. On the 15th, Burgoon had trouble with the rough and Landry parred to cut the lead to 2-up. Burgoon bogeyed after missing a par putt on the 16th and Landry parred again. On the 17th, Burgoon again missed the par putt while Landry made his, thus forcing the winning showdown on the 18th hole.
"I couldn't have drawn it up any better," Burgoon said. "I love the team. They battled their butts off all day and I just tried bringing it up. That was the hardest thing when it was slipping away. I was more discouraged for the guys on the team than for myself."
Despite the slip over the four holes before 18, Coach Higgins knew he had the right player there at the right time. The week before, Burgoon had said that he wanted to be on the 18th hole with a chance to win the national championship.
"He dominated his matches and played great golf all week," Higgins said. "That's all I said to him on 18. I wouldn't rather have anybody else playing this hole than you right now even after losing four straight. I knew he was a clutch performer. I knew he'd come through and he did. I'm so proud of him."
The Aggies started the tournament ranked No. 12 and reached as high as No. 3 after a historic 8-under-par day on Wednesday to practically lock up a spot in the eight-team playoff. From there A&M downed No. 2 Arizona State and No. 6 Michigan to earn a spot against No. 4 Arkansas in the championship match. Arkansas had beat No. 5 Washington and No. 8 Georgia.
"This is great," Burgoon said. "To finish off my senior year with a national championship is incredible. I couldn't be happier."
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