Texas Wins Transamerica-WFG Western Intercollegiate at Pasatiempo


The University of Texas played five holes of flawless team golf in the final round to win the 69th annual Western Intercollegiate men's golf championship. The Longhorns picked up their fifth tournament win of the season with a tournament-record-tying, final-round team score of 340 for a 54-hole total of 2-over par 1,052 on the par-70, 6,615-yard Pasatiempo Golf Course.

Texas, the first-round team leader and the school that newly-crowned Masters champion Jordan Spieth led to a national championship as a freshman, started the day in second place, five strokes behind Stanford, but moved comfortably ahead by the turn for the last nine holes.

The No. 3-ranked Longhorns separated themselves from the 14-team field that featured eight top-25 teams playing the sixth through 10th holes with 11 birdies, an eagle and no bogeys by its six players in the six-score-best five format.

"Patience and tolerance is No. 1 at Pasatiempo," said Texas coach John Fields about the Longhorns' fourth win in their last fifth tournaments. "The golf course is so good and it is so challenging. This year, they had it set up to almost a maximum level in terms of green speeds that means a premium on accuracy is extraordinary. For us, being able to handle the conditions and being able to overcome the adversity the golf course would present was the most important thing.

"It was extraordinary. I knew some good things were happening," Fields said about the bogey-free, birdie barrage. "What it means is we have a lot of potential as a team. We're not where we want to be just yet. I'm excited about the future. Coming to Pasatiempo is an education. We need that to give ourselves the best opportunity to grow as a team."

No. 14 Oregon, which led briefly during the first nine holes of the final round, finished second at 1,066, while ninth-ranked Stanford was third at 1,067. No. 5 Arizona State at 1,075 and 13th-rankedWashington with 1,085 rounded out the top-five teams.

UCLA (1,088), USC (1,093), Arizona (1,097), San Diego State (1,101), California (1,107), UC Irvine (1,117), host San José State (1,124), UTEP (1,130) and Hawaii (1,219) also battled for the top spot in the team competition.

Texas freshman Scottie Scheffler completed a wire-to-wire individual victory with a final-round 67 for a 9-under total of 201. The Western Intercollegiate title is his first at the major-college level after five top-10 finishes in nine tournaments.

"I came here to get a team win. The individual win is just kind of a bonus," said Scheffler, whose previous best finish was second at the 3M Augusta Collegiate Invitational in Augusta, Ga., on April 5.

Scheffler's total was three strokes better than California's Shotaro Ban. Scheffler and Ban were the only two players in the 96-player field to post an under-par score in each of the three rounds.

Jon Rahm of Arizona State was third at 4-under 206. Only 10 players were able to finish under par. Oregon's Brandon McIver, who finished in a four-way tie for seventh at 1-under 209, tied the 18-hole tournament record with his second-round 63. Teammate Zach Foushee had the low score of the final round with a 5-under 65.