Texas A&M’s Bronson Burgoon makes spectacular wedge shot on 18, leading Aggies to NCAA title

Burgoon’s wedge shot on 18 lifts Aggies to title

TOLEDO, Ohio — Texas A&M’s Bronson Burgoon hit a gap wedge from the rough to within 3 inches of the 18th hole Saturday to win his match and clinch the first NCAA Division I men’s golf title for the Aggies.

Burgoon, a senior and the team’s No. 1 player, had lost the previous four holes to Arkansas’ Andrew Landry before hitting from the deep rough far to the right of the 18th fairway.

Landry conceded the tap-in for birdie, then missed a 35-footer that would have sent the match to extra holes. A&M won, 3-and-2.

John Hurley and Andrea Pavan won their matches for the Aggies, who were never better than fourth at the national tournament.

Jamie Marshall and Jason Cuthbertson won matches for the Razorbacks, who also were chasing their first title.

With the match all square heading to the 18th, Landry drove into the middle of the fairway. Burgoon, as he did most of the back nine, drove far to the right into deep rough just above three deep pot bunkers on a hill bordering the edge of the fairway.

Landry spun a wedge just onto the green, the ball coming to rest on the first cut.

Burgoon walked up to take a look at the pin placement with his coach, J.T. Higgins, and sized up the shot. He muscled the gap wedge to the right-middle of the green, and the ball slowly rolled left toward the hole. As it rolled ever closer, a crescendo of cheers rose from the crowd.

His teammates jumped for joy and shouted as Landry conceded the birdie putt. Landry measured his lengthy birdie putt with his coach before rolling it left of the hole. Before it stopped rolling, the Aggies were jumping atop each other and slapping high fives in celebration.

Texas A&M had qualified for the NCAA men’s tournament 23 times, but had never finished higher than a fourth place in 1982.

Pavan dominated from the start in beating David Lingmerth, 7-and-6. Hurley also posted a quick win, beating Ethan Tracy, 6-and-4.

But then things tightened up when Arkansas’ Marshall defeated Conrad Shindler, 3-and-2. Cuthbertson took a 3-and-1 victory over Matt Van Zandt, who was the star of A&M’s 3½-1½ victory over Michigan in the semifinals.

Burgoon seemed to be in command of his match. He led 2-up at the turn and built his advantage to 4-up through 13 holes.

Landry began playing near-perfect golf and Burgoon seemed to find trouble off almost every tee.

Burgoon hit into a bunker on an adjoining fairway and made bogey at 14, with Landry two-putting for par to cut his lead to 3-up. Burgoon had to hit from the rough on his second shot at the 15th and pulled his approach into more of the thick stuff. He shouted, “Oh my gosh!” as the ball left his club face. Again Landry two-putted for a par to win the hole, cutting his deficit to two holes.

The gallery grew as the other matches ended. By the time the two players moved to the 16th green, there were several hundred fans traipsing along after the twosome, shouting encouragement and ringing the greens.

Landry used two putts from 40 feet for par at 16 and Burgoon barely missed his par putt from 25 feet. Now his lead was just 1-up.

At 17, Burgoon hit through the fairway and had an awkward stance, chopping the ball to just short of the green. But he chipped the ball 10 feet past the pin. Again Landry hit the green in regulation and made a routine par. Again Burgoon missed the par putt, forcing a showdown on the final hole.

The match-play showdown lived up to the expectations of the college coaches who had voted in the new format for the 2009 championship at Inverness Club. Rather than have strictly medal play, this was the first time that the 30 teams and six individual qualifiers played 54 holes of stroke play to determine the medalist and the eight teams that would move on to match play.