SUGAR GROVE, Ill. — One big swing gave Ole Miss sophomore Braden Thornberry control, and he never let go until he was the NCAA men’s golf champion.
Thornberry, who is from Olive Branch, capped off a big year Monday when he closed with a 1-under 71 on a brutal day of scoring at Rich Harvest Farms to capture the NCAA individual title with a four-shot victory against Arkansas’ Mason Overstreet. It was the first golf title for the Rebels.
“It means a lot to be the
champion,” Thornberry said. “It was a really special week. Really just from the start, got off to a great start, 6-under through the first 12 of the week, that got me started off on the right foot. The lead kept kind of creeping up. I tried to just stay in position until today and play a good round, and I was right there.”
Vanderbilt romped its way to the No. 1 seed for the match play portion of the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship, which starts today. Vanderbilt finished 12 shots ahead of Oklahoma, while reigning champion Oregon made a late push behind Ryan Gronlund to secure its spot in the eight-team field.
The other five teams advancing were Illinois, Oklahoma State, Southern California, Baylor, and UNLV.
Thornberry started the final round two shots behind Texas’ Scottie Scheffler, who immediately gave up the lead. After a bogey on his opening hole at No. 10, Scheffler hit a provisional tee shot for a lost ball on the par-5 11th. He never found his original tee shot and went on to make triple bogey.
Thornberry was even par for the day when he ripped driver on the reachable par-4 sixth hole, the ball bouncing softly out of the rough to about 18 feet. He made the eagle putt to seize control and no one seriously challenged him the rest of the way.
“In the practice round I hit the same shot and it was a little into the wind, so I knew driver was going to be perfect,” Thornberry said. “I just stepped up there and happened to hit a big one.”
Ole Miss missed the cut as a team.
“I think it validates everything we’ve said since Coach (Kyle) Ellis and I got the job a few years back,” Ole Miss coach Chris Malloy said. “All I heard was you couldn’t win a national championship at Ole Miss, and we’re going to go to this other school because we want to win national championships and we want to get on the Tour. He’s proven you can do that here.
“I think for Braden, the confidence piece is huge. What it does for him and the rest of his teammates, it will help boost those guys up to not only get the same trophy next year but get that team trophy, as well.”
Alabama’s Jonathan Hardee, who played with Thornberry, tied for 19th overall with a four-day total of even par 288 (69-75-67-77). The Crimson Tide junior was one of only 22 golfers in the 156-man field to finish the event at even par or better.
Hardee’s 72-hole score is sixth-best in program history, while his even par total is fourth-best in a 72-hole event.
“It was a tough day out there today,” Hardee said. “The beginning of the round was honestly just brutal. The first six or seven holes were really tough. Overall, it was a good tournament, but a little disappointing way to finish. I felt I played better than what my score was. I just needed another bounce here or there and a couple of close putts to drop and maybe it would have been a little different.”
Scheffler still had a chance late in his round until he missed a birdie opportunity on the par-5 seventh, took par on No. 8 and then twice hit trees on the final hole for a double bogey to close with a 78.
His late mistake wasn’t nearly as costly as it was for Vanderbilt’s Matthias Schwab, Overstreet and Southern California’s Rico Hoey.
Schwab was within two shots with four holes to play when he hit his tee shot and his approach into the water on the 15th and took triple bogey. He closed with a 75 and tied for third with Scheffler and Theo Humphrey of Vanderbilt (70).
Overstreet was three shots back until bogeys on the 16th and 17th took him out of it. Hoey was on the fringe of contention until he made two double bogeys over his last six holes and shot 76 to finish seven back.
The best finish belonged to Gronlund, and the Ducks rode him into the match play. Gronlund birdied his last four holes, including a 10-footer on the final hole. Oregon, which won last year on its home course, were still outside the top eight until late collapses by Southern California, Baylor, UNLV, and Virginia. The odd team out was Virginia, which had two players made double bogey on the par-5 seventh hole.
LSU finished ninth, two shots out of qualifying for match play. Virginia was another shot behind.
USC, which started the final round one shot behind Vanderbilt, added its best four scores for a 23-over 311. UNLV was on the verge of dropping out of the top eight when Justin Kim made a quadruple-bogey 8 on the 17th hole. Kim answered with a birdie on the par-5 18th, and the clincher came from John Oda.
Needing to make par on the final hole for UNLV to advance, he hit his second shot in a greenside bunker, blasted out to 10 feet and holed it for a birdie.
UNLV will face Vanderbilt in the quarterfinals this morning. Oklahoma will face Baylor, Illinois will play USC, and Oregon will take on Oklahoma State. The semifinals are this afternoon, followed by the championship match Wednesday.
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