It all came down to one shot for the men’s golf team.
Kevin Chappell chipped in on 17 to save bogey.
Craig Leslie dropped a lengthy putt on 18 to birdie the hole.
Erik Flores hit a beautiful chip out of thick rough to make par on 17.
Philip Francis hit a brilliant wedge shot out of tall grass on 18 to recover and make bogey.
Had any of the Bruins slipped in those crucial moments, the team would have lost any chance at a title.
But after all that clutch play and four days at the NCAA Championships, UCLA finished one stroke ahead of Stanford, 1,194-1,195, and won its first national title since 1988. Chappell finished at 2 under par and became the first Bruin ever to win the individual crown.
“If we would have played another one or two holes, I don’t know if we could have hung on,” said Derek Freeman, UCLA’s first-year coach.
The conditions Saturday at the Kampen Course in West Lafayette, Ind., were daunting, and the top two teams ““ UCLA and USC ““ both struggled down the stretch with high winds, thick rough and the palpable pressure of an NCAA Championship environment.
The difficulty of the finishing holes at the Kampen Course led to a wild finish. The 16th hole is a long par five, 17 is a treacherous par three, and 18 is a massive par four.
The Bruins had their fair share of troubles on those holes. As a team, they played the stretch at 8 over par.
But the UCLA players stepped up when it mattered most.
Leslie finished first, rolling in a lengthy birdie putt on 18. He was the only Bruin to birdie the hole, and he also birdied No. 16. The senior’s play was especially important because he was in the same group as Trojan star Jamie Lovemark.
“I saw the scoreboard at the 15th hole, and I saw we we’re two strokes ahead,” Leslie said. “After that I was just trying to treat it like a match, to beat (Lovemark) on every hole.”
The two rival teams remained locked as Chappell reached the 17th hole. He hit a surprisingly poor tee shot into the water. At that point, it looked as if all hope was lost for UCLA.
But Chappell kept his cool.
He sank a dramatic chip shot from behind the hole to save bogey. USC freshman Tim Sluiter, who was playing in the same group, couldn’t match Chappell’s resiliency and made a double bogey.
That set up Chappell, standing on the 18th tee, knowing that a par would win UCLA the title.
“Once he chipped it in, we were just so fired up and excited, and I knew he was going to hit a good shot on 18,” said Freeman, who walked the final holes with Chappell.
Sure enough, Chappell fired a booming drive down the middle of the fairway, confidently placed an iron within feet of the pin from 189 yards, and two-putted to seal the title for UCLA.
“It meant a lot because we proved to ourselves that we could do it,” Chappell said. “We’ve been in position a lot, but we hadn’t prevailed.”
After Chappell made a 1-foot putt to win the tournament, Freeman ran toward him, and the other team members followed ““ Leslie, Francis, Flores, Lucas Lee and assistant Daniel Hour.
“At that point, I didn’t know how to feel,” Freeman said. “I was excited; I was fired up, but it doesn’t set in because you’re so in the moment of grinding it out and protecting every single stroke.”
Earlier in the day it had looked as if the Bruins would cruise to an easy win. Chappell was leading the field at 6 under par, and the Bruins had built a solid cushion.
But that lead slipped away in a matter of minutes and forced the Bruins into a battle with USC over the final holes.
The Bruins’ win was a breakthrough for a program that doesn’t have the type of facilities or prestige that teams like Stanford and Oklahoma State boast. UCLA has been a national contender in recent years, but it had not been able to win the sport’s biggest title until this year.
“It was so intense; we really had to grind it out,” Leslie said. “I guess it’s kind of like we got the last laugh.”