This was my highlight in 2009:
On Friday, May 29, my Michigan Wolverines had become the Cinderella team in the NCAA Championship held at Inverness in Toledo. I had not seen Inverness since the 1979 U.S. Open, when I witnessed Lon Hinkle hit the famous drive around the Hinkle tree that had been planted the night before. (After which, in one of the most inexplicable things the USGA has ever done, they moved the tee markers, giving a new angle around the emergency tree. Which Lon exploited, for the last time that week.) Inverness is a wonderful course.
I resolved that Friday afternoon to go watch the finals on the next day, and dropped my other plans. But that night, after two grueling team matches, as the sun set, Michigan was eliminated in its team match with Texas A&M. That sent the Aggies into the team-match finals against Arkansas.
When I got to Inverness on Saturday, I had less interest in the two teams than in seeing the golf course again after so many years. And so I set off to walk the front nine by myself, when there was no play there. My quick little tour of the Inverness front nine brought me to the 11th hole just as the last match of the day, A&M's Bronson Burgoon versus Razorback Andrew Landry, arrived. Burgoon was just beginning to have his way with Landry. Burgoon soon got to 4-up, and I had thought of going to another match, but because I am a GCA member, naturally I thought, "I'll just stay here; people will clear out as this match concludes, and I'll have an easier walk around the inward holes."
What happened next, was the greatest golf match that I have ever witnessed. The basic story is told here:
http://www.ncaa.com/sports/m-golf/recaps/053009aaa.htmlAnd the Texas A&M Aggie website has it all here:
http://www.aggieathletics.com/sports/m-golf/recaps/053009aaj.html What happened is that Bronson Burgoon, one of the longest hitters in college golf (but not even the longest hitter on the Aggies) went 4-up on Landry (who can't be more than 5'8") through 13. Then, Landry gritted out a series of pars and birdies to win 14, 15, 16 and 17 in succession, to square the match as the two players stood on the tee of Inverness' fabulous little Par-4 18th. And by then, the NCAA Championship had come down to this final match. Landry piped his drive up the left side of the fairway. Burgoon took it up the riskier right side, which might afford a better angle to the tucked pin. But Burgoon lost it, and the ball sailed wide right and nestled in the long right rough. Landry put his second shot solidly into the middle of the green. Now, the entire championship was on Burgoon's last shot, and I was standing about eight paces away from him. He pulled his gap wedge from 125, and hit a pure shot, into the ridge that bisects the green. The ball held for a moment, and then began a slow trickle backwards down the slope to within inches of the cup. He would be conceded his birdie, and Landry could not make his 35-footer for a tying birdie. It was over. I had just witnessed the best shot of the collegiate season, and quite possibly the best shot in all of golf in 2009.
The 2009 NCAA Championship at Inverness was a watershed; Nicklaus spoke to the opening banquet. It was this year that the NCAA had brought team match-play back as the format, for the first time in decades. Gone was the PGA Tour-style medal play event where everyone sat around with calculators to figure out which team was winning, or would win. Now, it was like a college football game and a Ryder Cup rolled into one. Jack had thought it was a great idea and congratulated the NCAA in his opening remarks. In the end, it was even better than anyone could have possibly imagined.
I'm so happy I was there. I may never see a better match, but I think I'll keep trying...
