Bryson Dechambeau of Clovis became the first Southern Methodist golfer to capture the NCAA Championship, winning by one stroke over Cheng-Tsung Pan of Washington at Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla.
Dechambeau, a junior who played at East Clovis High, posted a score of 70-67-72-71—280, 8-under-par, hitting his approach shot to within four feet for an eagle on the 12th hole after starting on the back nine and adding three birdies on the front nine.
“It’s been unbelievable,” said Dechambeau, who earned the national championship trophy and the Arnold Palmer Award for being the individual medalist. “It’s such an honor to win both of these awards.
“I could have never imagined this in a million years growing up. It was my dream growing up to win a big event, and for amateur golf this is a major. I’m honored to win, and I’m looking forward to being back next year.”
Pan finished at 72-70-72-67—281 and had a chance to force a playoff with a birdie on the final hole, but found a greenside bunker with his approach shot and saw his chance to tie evaporate when his shot from the sand rolled past the right edge of the hole.
Thomas Detry of Illinois shot 68-71-73-70—282 and tied for third with Hunter Stewart of Vanderbilt, who totaled 74-69-71-68—282, while Paul Dunne of Alabama-Birmingham was fifth at 72-69-69-73—283, followed by Claudio Correa of South Florida at 68-75-69-72—284 and Andrew Presley of TCU at 73-70-72-70—285.
Sean Crocker of USC carded a score of 73-68-75-73—289 and finished in a tie for 16th that included Preston Valder of UCLA, who came in at 74-75-68-72—289, and Ryan Ree led San Diego State in a tie for 38th at 73-76-71-75—295.
Illinois captured stroke-play qualifying for the match-play portion of the tournament that will determine the NCAA team champion, recording a score of 286-291-296-282—1155, 6-under-par, followed by Vanderbilt at 301-284-287-285—1157.
Georgia totaled 288-293-286-291—1158 to tie for third with Texas, which finished at 294-300-280-284—1158, while USC was fifth at 289-285-296-291—1161, followed by South Florida at 294-291-292-291—1168, LSU at 292-289-290-298—1169 and UCLA in the final qualifying spot at 294-304-280-294—1172.
San Diego State finished 15th at 290-299-298-306—1193.
