DeChambeau Survives Late Birdie Binge by Pan to Win NCAA Individual Championship


Bryson DeChambeau of SMU overcame a double-bogey on his ninth hole (the par-4 18th) at the Concession Club in Bradenton, Fla., to win the NCAA Individual Championship on Monday.

After ending 72 holes at 8-under, DeChambeau waited an hour to see how his closest pursuer, Washington's Cheng-Tsung Pan, finished as the Husky senior made a great back-nine charge.

Entering the final round at 2-under, Pan - a finalist for the 2015 Ben Hogan Award - got off to a slow start with bogeys on the first two holes. The native of Taiwan admitted later that he was a bit down after the UW fell in a playoff for the final spot in the team match-play competition Monday morning.

"My first two holes, I was moody," he. "My mentality was not tough. I was still upset that the team was defeated and I did not do my part. Those first two holes, my mind was wandering."

But Pan rallied, going 7-under over his final 16 holes to rise up the leaderboard. On the long 18th, the same hole where the Huskies team chances came to an end when Pan bogeyed in the team playoff, he split the fairway with a long drive to give himself a look at a near impossible pin on the far right on top of a knoll. Pan had 169 yards to the pin with water lurking right.

"It wasn't a yardage I really like," said Pan. "I was in between clubs, so I chose an 8-iron. I tried to hit it hard. That was the best chance I had, a 7 would have been a tough shot. That is a tough hole location to get close to."

His shot would missed right, finding the greenside bunker, meaning he'd need to hole the sand shot to tie Dechambeau. After the round, Pan would call the bunker shot a 1/100 chance and one "you'd need to get lucky." He almost pulled if off, as Pan's bunker shot headed straight at the hole and lipped out, eliciting a loud gasp from the large crowd around the green.

Pan's 67 would match the best round of the tournament and give him solo second behind DeChambeau. After hearing the crowd's response when Pan missed, the 21-year-old DeChambeau said, "That's when the emotions flooded out."

Added the Physics major who wears a retro Ben Hogan cap, "When he made birdie on 17 I knew he was going to have a very good chance of making birdie on the last hole," Dechambeau said of Pan. "He's a great competitor, my hats off to him. He's an unbelievable player."

It was Pan's final tournament as an amateur as he will now turn pro after a wonderful career at Washington. "It's up and down," Pan said of his final collegiate performance. "I really enjoyed the way I played. I am very satisfied with the way I finished and that I played aggressively. I'm very happy with my final round of my amateur career. It's a great way to finish."

For DeChambeau, the 26th-ranked player in amateur golf, the result was rewarding. "I knew that I was good enough to contend for a national championship, but I didn't believe it last year," he said. "There were a few times I doubted myself because of it.

"I knew I could win a title after last year after coming so close, making a double on 16 and losing by a couple. I knew coming into this week that I would I have a chance. Last year was a great steppingstone in believing that my game was up there."

The final-eight teams that advanced to the match-play portion of the championship are: Illinois, Vanderbilt, Georgia, Texas, USC, South Florida, LSU and UCLA.

For updated match-play scoring, visit http://www.ncaa.com/2015-di-mens-golf-championships-team-leaderboard.