Final Four

Terry O'Keefe · May 29, 2009

Aggie Golf Team is in the Final 4 for the NCAA Golf Championships. They played 3 rounds of stroke play at Inverness and the top 8 teams then go into match play. The Aggies beat ASSU 3-1-1. Matt was all square in his match when his buddy closed out a ASSU guy for the 3rd win so they don't finish out any matches in progress. But my sister said they were at 18 and Matt had just hit his 2nd shot stiff and was likely to get a birdie and the ASSU guy was just off the edge of the green and likely would have had to chip in to keep the match all square.

Anyway they are on to the Final Four this afternoon, against the Wolverweasels of Michigan. I would like to see them skunk the skunkbears!! What is it in match play when you doorme or something like that? I know it means somebody got their asses kicked, just not exactly sure what the score would be.

Also Matt, if you remember, was a finalist for the Byron Nelson award and they had the dinner last night but some dude from Marquette won it.

Terry

HUSKERMAN-HUSKERFAN · May 29, 2009

Dormie (also spelled "dormy") is a term used in match play golf, denoting that the score is such that one player (or team) is the same number of holes ahead as there are still to play; thus that should one hole be halved, that leading player will win the match.

The player currently in the lead is said to be "dormie" or "dormie-number" where number is the number of holes involved.

The word derives from late 18th and early 19th century Scotland, where golf was played on links on the coast. The heathland near the coast is home to a number of indigenous species, including dormice, or "dormies" in the argot of the East Coast of Scotland. Dormice, as shy creatures, generally hid well from passing golfers, but a sighting was held to be particularly good luck for any links player passing.

Scott88 · May 29, 2009

Thanks for the updates Terry!

I'm too superstitious to look.
I'll just wait for you to tell me how it went.

Terry O'Keefe · May 29, 2009

Well Matt took the critical Wolverweasel pelt. It went to the 18th all-square, but the weasel conceded after matt hit the green, and he hit over the green and then hit over the green again...Matt was on in 2 and the skunkbear was still off and laying 3 in the rough.

So it's on to the National Championship match vs Arkansas tomorrow morning!!

Matt played in the 5A Texas State Championships all 4 years in HS, and won it once, now to finish out his career at A&M he's been in the NCAA Championships last year and this year and can do no worse than #2.

Go Ags!

Terry

gipper · May 29, 2009

Go Aggies!
Don't get to say that very often.

Sid · May 29, 2009

Go Matt! Go Aggies! Beat the hell out of the Pigs!

Terry O'Keefe · May 29, 2009

TOLEDO, Ohio - Senior Matt Van Zandt won the 18th hole to capture his semifinal match against Michigan on Friday, helping No. 7 seed Texas A&M advance to Saturday's finals at the NCAA Men's Golf Championship at Inverness Golf Club.

Arkansas and A&M will meet for the title with 18 holes of match play starting at 9 a.m. (Central). The Aggies held off the fourth-seeded Wolverines, 3-1-1, while the fourth-seeded Razorbacks downed No. 8 Georgia, 4-1. The Aggies have clinched the highest NCAA finish in school history and are reaching for their first national title in men's golf. A&M's previous best was fourth in 1982.

Live scoring and video are available at golfstat.com. The video link is http://www.golfstatresults.com/public/leaderboards/player/static/player_1495.html.

The A&M-Michigan semifinal was precisely why the NCAA changed formats this season - to create more drama thanks to head-to-head match play. This is the first year the tournament format has been 54 holes of medal play to determine the individual medalist and the seeding for the top eight teams, followed by two days of match play to determine the team champion.

"This was the most awesome day of college golf I've ever been a part of," A&M Coach J.T. Higgins said. "Michigan was unbelievable and they wouldn't go away. We had a chance to close them out several times and they kept fighting and fighting. We played with a lot of heart and there was never an ounce of quit in us. We have great kids who deserve this success and the opportunity to play for a national championship."

A&M had won two matches, Michigan had won one and a fourth was all square as Van Zandt carried a 1-up lead to the 17th green. After Van Zandt, whose score had not been counted in each of the three medal-play rounds, barely missed a 12-foot birdie putt, Michigan's Bill Rankin calmly rolled in a 10-footer for birdie to square the match while a few hundred fans - most of them Michigan supporters - cheered.

Both hit driver on the par-4 18th, with Rankin's ball coming to rest a couple of feet above a deep fairway bunker set in the side of a hill. He had an awkward stance, and the ball was settled down in the deep rough at Inverness Club. Hitting first, he punched the ball out but it hit on the back of the green and took one bounce into a bunker.

Van Zandt was 20 yards in front of him, with a better lie but still in the deep rough. He slashed out a wedge that landed in the middle of the green and ended up 15-feet below the hole, which was located on a shelf on the back right portion of the green. He pumped his fist when the ball stayed on the putting surface.

Rankin blasted out of the bunker but his shot rolled past the pin and rolled off the severe side of the green and into deep rough. From there, he took another mighty swing, the ball catching the edge of the hole before running several feet past. Rankin then conceded Van Zandt's birdie putt, giving the Aggies the third point they needed to advance.

"I'm so happy for Matt as a senior to come up so big for his team," Higgins said. "He had a tough week but he never stopped battling. Although his scores didn't count for us in stroke play, they ended up being the difference in the tiebreaker between us and Georgia. He was outstanding all day today."

"I'm relieved more than anything else," Van Zandt said. "I played great today and it was a fun match. I tip my hat to Bill because he's one of the best putters I've ever played against -- at least he was today. This is like a dream. You practice for exactly what I just faced. To be able to pick your team up like that is tremendous. My team picked me up when I was down and this shows what a team game this is. It means the world to me."

In addition to Van Zandt's 1-up win, teammates Andrea Pavan beat Alexander Sitompul 8-and-7 and Bronson Burgoon topped Lion Kim 4-and-3. The Wolverines' lone point came from Nick Pumford's 2-and-1 victory over Conrad Shindler, with A&M's John Hurley and Michigan's Matt Thompson fighting to a draw.

Pavan, who lost by a large margin in the quarterfinals, vindicated himself with birdies on five of the first seven holes to bury Sitompul early.

"Andrea was struggling all week with his ball striking and we kept telling him you're one swing away from hitting it good," Higgins said. "In the morning match against Arizona State, he hit a weak drive and had a three-iron in on No. 14. He looked at me and said, 'I just figured out what I was doing wrong but it's too late.' I said 'what are you talking about? We have two matches left.' I knew by the way he looked back at me that he was ready to come back and play well. He had three tap-in birdies and played phenomenal golf."

Burgoon cruised to easy victories in both his matches, ending both on the 15th hole.

"Bronson is so good in match play," Higgins said. "He really likes going head-to-head and he played great today."

The top three seeds all lost in Friday mornings quarterfinals. The Aggies edged No. 2 Arizona State (3-1-1), Georgia beat No. 1 Oklahoma State (3-2) and Michigan upset No. 3 Southern California (3-2). Arkansas was the only higher seed to win, defeating No. 5 Washington (3-2).

Georgia's spirited match against Oklahoma State came down to the last hole. The Bulldogs prevailed when Brian Harman birdied the final hole to edge the Cowboys' Rickie Fowler.

Burgoon (4 and 3) and Hurley (3 and 2) easily won their matches against ASU. Shindler closed out a 2 and 1 victory with a birdie on the 17th hole.

Van Zandt also birdied the 17th to square his match, but the players settled for a draw after Burgoon's victory sealed the match. Pavan lost his match, 4 and 3.

"Bronson and John took it to Arizona State early and were never in danger of losing," A&M Coach J.T. Higgins said. "It was fantastic to secure two wins early. Conrad and Matt played their hearts out, with Conrad winning the 15th and 17th holes to close out his match."

Shindler was a late addition to the lineup after losing a playoff two weeks ago for a spot in the PGA Tour's Byron Nelson Classic and firing a 68 in local qualifying for the U.S. Open. He had a hole-in-one in Tuesday's opening round and shot three-under on the back nine on Thursday to help the Aggies advance to match play by a narrow margin.

"That has to be the best coaching move I've ever made," Higgins said. "I added him to the lineup because he had been playing so well. He wanted to prove he belonged here and he did."

Note: The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Scott88 · May 30, 2009

SWEEEEETTTT!! 8)

Matt is really coming through when it means the most. Good for him!

Hope we're eatin' pork chops tomorrow night!!

Sid · May 30, 2009

What a great vicarious experience this is to share your excitement. Thanks to our participation on this board, we all have gotten to know your nephew. Now we get to cheer him on from all over the country.

GO MATT!

BuckeyeT · May 30, 2009

Great stuff TOK.....great job Matt, great job Ags!

Terry O'Keefe · May 30, 2009

Aggies win the Nat'l Championship. Matt lost his match, unfortuneately, he had the guy 2 up through 8 but just couldn't close him out and then the guy got hot and made it up. But it was an incredibly dramatic finish. The matches were all square at 2-2 with the #1's still on the course. The Ag #1 was 4 up with 5 to go and you figure just cruise on in, but he was all square when he reached the tee box on 18. He (Bronson Brugoon) drove the ball into the rough the Ark #1 drove it into the middle of the fairway. Bronson hit first and hit his iron to 2 inches, the ARk kid his a wedge with too much spin and it hit and backuped off the green. He came up short with his 3rd shot and conceded the 2 incher to Bronson....Game/set/Match to the Aggies.

This is the first National Championship in a team sport at Texas A&M since the '39 Aggies football won the NC. ....I think that's right. Maybe Scott can verify that.

Matt and his teammates are of course on cloud 9!!

Terry

Terry O'Keefe · May 30, 2009

sociated Press

TOLEDO, Ohio -- Texas A&M's Bronson Burgoon hit a gap wedge from the rough to within three 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 chipping 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 have never finished better than fourth, in 1982, despite having qualified for the national tournament 23 times.

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.

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.
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Terry O'Keefe · May 31, 2009

From Golf Week:

TOLEDO, Ohio — Texas A&M was not short on heroes as it traveled its road to the first NCAA golf championship in school history.

Any one of the five Aggies in the lineup this week at Inverness Club can qualify for that role.

There was sophomore Conrad Shindler, who led the team by tying for 13th in the 54-hole stroke-play portion of the championship. Shindler’s performance enabled the Aggies to tie for seventh and gain one of the precious eight spots in match play.

There was sophomore John Hurley – the big bomber – who won two matches and halved another to keep A&M moving through the match-play bracket.

There was junior Andrea Pavan, who struggled in stroke play (T-60) and lost his first-round match, but bounced back and dominated his opponents in the semifinals (8 and 7) and championship match (7 and 6).

And of course there was senior Bronson Burgoon who has been carrying the Aggies much of the year and didn’t stop this week. After tying for 18th in stroke play, Burgoon went on to win all three of his matches.

His final match against Arkansas senior Andrew Landry will no doubt become an all-time classic. He was 4 up with five holes to play, but Landry won the next four holes to square the match going to the 18th hole. The 18th is infamous as the site of Bob Tway’s hole-out from a greenside bunker to win the 1986 PGA Championship.

As far as historic Inverness is concerned, Burgoon’s final approach shot ranks right up there with Tway. Burgoon hit a gap wedge from the right rough, 125 yards out. The ball landed right of the pin and trickled to within a couple of inches from the hole for a conceded birdie.

Indeed, the Aggies had their share of heroes. But maybe the biggest one of all was the guy who didn’t have the best week.

That would be senior Matt Van Zandt. He epitomized what team golf is all about and most of all, how important a role the No. 5 man can be.

Consider this: In stroke play, Van Zandt was Texas A&M’s throw-out score each round as he tied for 120th in the 156-player field.

In match play, his first match was deemed halved since it was still in progress and the Aggies already had clinched the three points necessary for a win. He won his semifinal match, then lost his match in the final.

One might look at his performance as non-productive for the week. In my opinion, Van Zandt efforts very well might be the most crucial in allowing the Aggies to take the championship trophy back home to College Station, Texas.

When stroke play was completed, Texas A&M was tied with Georgia for the seventh spot. A tie-breaker was needed to see which team would gain the No. 7 seed and which team would be the No. 8 seed for match play. That tie-breaker was the cumulative fifth-man score over the three rounds of stroke play.

Van Zandt’s 16-over 229 was four strokes better than Georgia’s three throw-out numbers, allowing A&M to be seeded seventh.

How big was that? It meant the Aggies would not have to face No. 1 seed and the nation’s top-ranked team – Oklahoma State – in the opening round.

Does that mean Texas A&M had no chance if they played Oklahoma State? Not quite, but one would have to believe it boosted A&M’s chances at moving through to the match-play bracket.

And then, of course, there was that win in the semifinals. His par on the final hole for a 1-up victory over Michigan’s Bill Rankin was the clinching point that sent the Aggies into the championship match.

“This has been story book, not only for me but for the entire team,” Van Zandt said shortly after the Aggies scored a 3-and-2 victory over Arkansas to secure the title. “This is what you dream of. And to have me, a senior, close it out yesterday and Bronson, our other senior, to close it out today, is about as good as it can get.

“I never got down one bit at any time this week,” Van Zandt said. “I knew I had a strong team behind me. The thing about college golf is you can make contributions that are way bigger than just a score.”

Van Zandt contributed in his final collegiate tournament.

And because of that, Texas A&M is leaving Toledo with college golf’s biggest prize.
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Scott88 · May 31, 2009

No Terry, right off hand I know our girls won a couple of NC's in softball in the late 80's.

I don't know if there are others... never really thought about it.

I'm really happy for the guys. They did something no one expected in dramatic style. It must be really sweet for them.

I think our women's track team is in good position to challenge for a title too. It would be awesome to put another top trophy in the case!

HUSKERMAN-HUSKERFAN · May 31, 2009

ATTA BOY!! GREAT JOB MATT!!

IF YOU ONLY KNEW HOW PROUD YOUR UNCLE IS...

Sid · May 31, 2009

For the rest of his life, wherever he goes, whatever he does, he is a member of the 2009 national champion Texas A&M golf team.

Scott88 · May 31, 2009

Terry,

One of the AgTimes guys was there, and got some good pics I thought you might like to see:

Aggie Golf

Terry O'Keefe · May 31, 2009

Great photos thanks.

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