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• Click here for Golfweek's complete postseason coverage
• Kevin Chappell played the 2008 season in his brother's honor.

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By RON BALICKI
Senior Writer

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The two prized trophies from this year’s NCAA Division I Championship are headed to Tinsel Town. Final destination, Los Angeles and the J.D. Morgan Center on the campus of UCLA.

The Bruins, led by medalist Kevin Chappell, captured their second national golf title – and first since 1988 – May 31 at the Kampen Course at Purdue’s Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex.


UCLA closed with an 18-over 306 for a 42-over 1,194 total and hung on for a one-shot victory over defending champion Stanford, which closed with a final-round best 302. USC, which battled its city rivals from start to finish, was another shot back at 1,196 after a 305.

Oklahoma State followed at 1,200 with Clemson next at 1,201. Kent State, seeded 25th and No. 33 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings, rounded out the top 6 at 1,204, giving the Golden Flashes their best ever NCAA Championship finish and topping their ninth-place showing in 2000.

Chappell, who led by as many as seven shots at one point on the back nine, struggled down the stretch, but his closing 76 and 2-under 286 total was good enough for a three-shot victory over Indiana’s Jorge Campillo and Washington’s Nick Taylor. A pair of freshmen, Rickie Fowler of Oklahoma State and Sihwan Kim of Stanford, tied for fourth at 6-over 294.

“The feeling I have right now is better than anything I could ever imagine,” said Chappell, a senior who plans to turn pro following the Palmer Cup in June. “To win individually is great, but it becomes even more special because the team also won. I can’t say enough about this team. All season long we’ve always been there to pick each other up and that’s what championship teams do.”

The victory was the fifth of Chappell’s UCLA career, but the first time he’s won when his teammates also were victorious. He becomes the first UCLA player to win the national golf title.

This marked the 103rd national championship for the storied UCLA athletics department.

“This is absolutely unbelievable,” said first-year Bruin coach Derek Freeman. “This is huge for our school which prides itself on national championships. Now I want figure out how to get better. I want to do this again because I sure like this feeling.”

No shot was bigger in determining UCLA’s fate than the one hit by Chappell on the 206-yard, par-3 17th hole which produced, what Chappell termed, “the best bogey of my entire life.”

At the time the Bruins held a one-shot lead over USC with Stanford, which was finished for the day and sitting intently by the 18th green, just two behind.

Chappell hit his 5-iron tee shot into the water and was pretty much looking at double bogey at best. From the drop area, his third shot came to rest just off the green. Then, from what he said was 22 paces to the pin, he chipped in.

“I knew he could get it up and down and was figuring take the 5 and move on to 18,” Freeman said. “When he chipped it in it was unbelievable. For us, the culmination of the year was in that shot.”

Chappell knew where the team stood playing 18 and what he had to do. But he also knew he made double bogey on this hole in the second round and bogey in the third.

His tee shot found the fairway and his 189-yard approach shot came to rest 20 feet above the hole. His birdie putt slid off to the left and when he tapped in his 1-foot par putt a few moments later Freeman and the entire Bruins team charged onto the green to congratulate their senior leader.

“I know we struggled on the back side (18 over) and leaked some oil coming in,” Freeman said. “But all you can do is add up the scores and see where you stand. We’re one ahead and that’s all that matters.”

• • •

Ron Balicki is a Golfweek senior writer. To reach him e-mail rbalicki@golfweek.com.

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Final scores with relation to par from the NCAA Division I Men’s Championship, played May 28-31 at the par-72, 7,450-yard Kampen Course at Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex in West Lafayette, Ind. (Note: y-played as individual; z-played final round as an individual):

TEAMS
1. UCLA	297-293-298-306--1194		+	42
2. Stanford	309-288-296-302--1195		+	43
3. USC	297-294-300-305--1196		+	44
4. Oklahoma St.	298-296-301-305--1200		+	48
5. Clemson	301-288-302-310--1201		+	49
6. Kent St.	301-297-302-304--1204		+	52
7. Washington	305-290-307-306--1208		+	56
8. Charlotte	306-295-306-303--1210		+	58
8. Georgia	303-293-305-309--1210		+	58
10. Louisville	311-296-300-306--1213		+	61
11. Florida	302-291-306-315--1214		+	62
12. Texas A&M	309-294-306-307--1216		+	64
13. Alabama	309-297-297-315--1218		+	66
14. San Diego St.	310-303-294-315--1222		+	70
15. Middle Tennessee St.	309-293-311-312--1225		+	73
• • •
Missed the 54-hole cut
16. Auburn	306-304-304--914		+	50
17. Arizona St.	311-293-312--916		+	52
17. Illinois	302-302-312--916		+	52
19. Texas	311-309-297--917		+	53
20. UC Irvine	320-297-302--919		+	55
21. Indiana	313-310-297--920		+	56
22. UAB	311-297-315--923		+	59
22. Wake Forest	314-304-305--923		+	59
22. East Tennessee St.	313-300-310--923		+	59
25. Penn St.	315-298-313--926		+	62
26. Virginia	312-307-312--931		+	67
27. Mississippi St.	326-297-312--935		+	71
27. Oregon	315-304-316--935		+	71
29. Augusta St.	326-308-302--936		+	72
30. St. Mary’s	333-309-307--949		+	85
• • •
INDIVIDUALS
1. Kevin Chappell, UCLA	69-73-68-76--286			-2
2. z-Jorge Campillo, Indiana	75-70-72-72--289		+	1
2. Nick Taylor, Washington	75-66-73-75--289		+	1
4. Rickie Fowler, Okla. St.	74-77-70-73--294		+	6
4. Sihwan Kim, Stanford	77-72-74-71--294		+	6
6. Billy Horschel, Florida	72-67-76-80--295		+	7
7. Kyle Stanley, Clemson	72-68-74-82--296		+	8
7. Trent Whitekiller, Okla. St.	77-74-73-72--296		+	8
9. David Markle, Kent St.	70-76-76-75--297		+	9
9. Tim Sluiter, USC	70-73-73-81--297		+	9
9. Hudson Swafford, Georgia	73-69-79-76--297		+	9
9. z-Jurrian van der Vaart, Va. Tech	77-75-73-72--297		+	9
13. Rory Hie, USC	74-72-77-75--298		+	10
13. Adam Rainaud, Louisville	77-71-74-76--298		+	10
13. y-Joel Sjoholm, Georgia St.	72-72-75-79--298		+	10
16. Derek Fathauer, Louisville	77-72-72-78--299		+	11
16. Corey Nagy, Charlotte	80-70-76-73--299		+	11
18. Rob Grube, Stanford	78-69-73-80--300		+	12
18. Jason Millard, MTSU	77-72-73-78--300		+	12
18. David Palm, SDSU	76-72-72-80--300		+	12
21. Stefan Wiedergruen, Charlotte	74-74-78-75--301		+	13
22. Russell Henley, Georgia	74-78-75-75--302		+	14
23. Zach Bixler, Washington	74-76-77-76--303		+	15
23. Bronson Burgoon, Texas A&M	80-73-78-72--303		+	15
23. Ignacio Elvira, Texas A&M	77-72-75-79--303		+	15
23. z-Kevin Foley, Penn St.	75-73-74-81--303		+	15
23. Dodge Kemmer, Stanford	78-76-74-75--303		+	15
23. David Ludlow, Kent St.	78-75-73-77--303		+	15
29. Ben Martin, Clemson	74-77-74-79--304		+	16
29. z-Henrik Norlander, Augusta St.	75-72-73-84--304		+	16
29. Andrea Pavan, Texas A&M	75-73-77-79--304		+	16
29. Michael Thompson, Alabama	76-74-75-79--304		+	16
33. Erik Flores, UCLA	76-75-76-78--305		+	17
33. Phillip Francis, UCLA	76-73-80-76--305		+	17
33. Matthew Giles, USC	78-74-72-81--305		+	17
33. John Hahn, Kent St.	83-71-73-78--305		+	17
33. Trevor Murphy, Charlotte	77-74-80-74--305		+	17
38. Mark Harrell, Alabama	79-73-75-79--306		+	18
38. Craig Leslie, UCLA	76-80-74-76--306		+	18
38. David May, Clemson	80-74-77-75--306		+	18
38. Sam Saunders, Clemson	81-74-77-74--306		+	18
38. Matthew Swan, Alabama	75-79-74-78--306		+	18
43. Tyson Alexander, Florida	75-74-80-78--307		+	19
43. Brett Cairns, Kent St.	78-75-80-74--307		+	19
43. Jordan Cox, Stanford	79-71-75-82--307		+	19
43. Robert Gates, Jr., Texas A&M	77-77-76-77--307		+	19
43. Tom Glissmeyer, USC	75-80-78-74--307		+	19
43. Jamie Lovemark, USC	79-75-78-75--307		+	19
43. z-Gareth Shaw, ETSU	74-73-77-83--307		+	19
50. Adam Mitchell, Georgia	78-72-75-83--308		+	20
50. Manuel Villegas, Florida	76-80-76-76--308		+	20
52. Johan Carlsson, SDSU	80-73-74-82--309		+	21
52. Matt Hoffenberg, SDSU	84-75-72-78--309		+	21
52. Steve Ziegler, Stanford	76-79-78-76--309		+	21
55. Tze Huang Choo, Washington	84-72-76-78--310		+	22
55. Rick Cochran, MTSU	75-73-80-82--310		+	22
55. Jonas Enander Hedin, Charlotte	78-77-74-81--310		+	22
55. Aaron Goldberg, SDSU	74-85-76-75--310		+	22
55. Adam Hadwin, Louisville	78-76-74-82--310		+	22
60. Lucas Lee, UCLA	79-72-80-80--311		+	23
60. Chas Narramore, MTSU	80-76-80-75--311		+	23
60. Kevin Tway, Okla. St.	81-70-76-84--311		+	23
63. Will Strickler, Florida	79-74-78-81--312		+	24
64. Karsten Clements, Louisville	80-79-80-74--313		+	25
64. Trent Leon, Okla. St.	73-76-86-78--313		+	25
64. Phillip Mollica, Clemson	75-72-82-84--313		+	25
64. Joseph Sykora, Alabama	79-82-73-79--313		+	25
64. Darren Wallace, Washington	79-76-81-77--313		+	25
69. Kent Bulle, MTSU	77-77-78-82--314		+	26
69. Mark Johnson, Okla. St.	74-76-82-82--314		+	26
71. Nick Bailes, MTSU	86-72-81-77--316		+	28
71. Brian Harman, Georgia	78-75-76-87--316		+	28
73. Tom Ballinger, Kent St.	75-80-81-81--317		+	29
73. Tyler Brown, Florida	83-76-76-82--317		+	29
73. Harris English, Georgia	86-77-79-75--317		+	29
76. Andrew DiBitetto, Charlotte	77-80-78-84--319		+	31
77. Daryl Fathauer, Louisville	79-77-88-78--322		+	34
78. John Wise, Washington	77-79-82-85--323		+	35
79. Chad Moscovic, SDSU	80-83-79-82--324		+	36
80. Matt Hughes, Alabama	90-71-82-82--325		+	37
81. Matt Van Zandt, Texas A&M	82-76-84-84--326		+	38
• • •
Missed the 54-hole cut
MC. Chadd Cocco, St. Mary’s	76-74-75-225		+	9
MC. Scott Langley, Illinois	74-76-75-225		+	9
MC. Brendan Gielow, W. Forest	79-71-76-226		+	10
MC. Bobby Hudson, Texas	78-73-75-226		+	10
MC. Lance Lopez, Texas	76-78-72-226		+	10
MC. Robert Rohanna, Penn St.	76-74-76-226		+	10
MC. Will Collins, Virginia	78-78-71-227		+	11
MC. Chris DeForest, Illinois	75-70-82-227		+	11
MC. Braxton Marquez, ASU	78-71-78-227		+	11
MC. Steven Groover, Auburn	78-76-74-228		+	12
MC. Webb Simpson, W. Forest	73-77-78-228		+	12
MC. Zach Barlow, Illinois	76-78-75-229		+	13
MC. Tim Cha, UC Irvine	77-74-78-229		+	13
MC. John Chin, UC Irvine	83-73-73-229		+	13
MC. Patton Kizzire, Auburn	79-75-75-229		+	13
MC. Carlos Sainz, Miss. St.	81-75-73-229		+	13
MC. Sean Shahi, UC Irvine	80-75-74-229		+	13
MC. Gordon Strother, Auburn	75-77-77-229		+	13
MC. Jesper Kennegard, ASU	80-75-75-230		+	14
MC. Jay Moseley, Auburn	76-76-78-230		+	14
MC. y-Dan Woltman, Wisconsin	82-71-77-230		+	14
MC. Joey Benedetti, Oregon	74-80-77-231		+	15
MC. Seamus Power, ETSU	83-72-76-231		+	15
MC. Brad Smith, UAB	75-71-85-231		+	15
MC. Zach Sucher, UAB	79-71-81-231		+	15
MC. Seth Brandon, Indiana	78-79-75-232		+	16
MC. Rhys Enoch, ETSU	75-80-77-232		+	16
MC. Noah Goldman, Miss. St.	77-75-80-232		+	16
MC. Stephan Gross, ASU	76-78-78-232		+	16
MC. Charlie Holland, Texas	75-80-77-232		+	16
MC. James Byrne, ASU	78-74-81-233		+	17
MC. Greg Carlin, Virginia	77-80-76-233		+	17
MC. Matt Fast, Miss. St.	84-74-75-233		+	17
MC. Adam West, UAB	74-83-76-233		+	17
MC. Alex Martin, Indiana	81-78-75-234		+	18
MC. Chris McCartin, W. Forest	84-77-73-234		+	18
MC. Jace Moore, Texas	82-79-73-234		+	18
MC. Knut Borsheim, ASU	79-73-83-235		+	19
MC. Kenny Kim, UC Irvine	80-78-77-235		+	19
MC. Glenn Northcutt, Auburn	77-79-79-235		+	19
MC. y-James Sacheck, TCU	78-80-77-235		+	19
MC. y-Derek Tolan, Colorado	74-77-84-235		+	19
MC. Larry Blatt, Illinois	77-79-80-236		+	20
MC. Cian McNamara, ETSU	81-75-80-236		+	20
MC. Derek Sipe, Oregon	80-74-82-236		+	20
MC. Drew Allenspach, Indiana	79-83-75-237		+	21
MC. Jake Amos, Augusta St.	84-74-79-237		+	21
MC. Tarik Can, Augusta St.	82-80-75-237		+	21
MC. Dustin Groves, W. Forest	80-79-78-237		+	21
MC. Kyle Sapp, UAB	84-76-77-237		+	21
MC. Kyle Stough, Virginia	75-73-89-237		+	21
MC. Amory Davis, Virginia	82-77-79-238		+	22
MC. y-Eric Shriver, Pepperdine	80-76-82-238		+	22
MC. Harvin Groft, Penn St.	83-75-81-239		+	23
MC. Robert McRae, St. Mary’s	84-76-79-239		+	23
MC. Kevin Schultz, Texas	83-79-77-239		+	23
MC. Sean Maekawa, Oregon	78-82-80-240		+	24
MC. Jack Dukeminier, Oregon	90-74-77-241		+	25
MC. Josh Kelley, St. Mary’s	87-79-75-241		+	25
MC. Isaiah Telles, Oregon	83-76-82-241		+	25
MC. TJ Howe, Penn St.	84-76-82-242		+	26
MC. Josh Oller, Miss. St.	84-73-85-242		+	26
MC. Matt Hoffman, Illinois	80-78-85-243		+	27
MC. Mike Oimoen, UAB	83-79-81-243		+	27
MC. Daniel Cone, St. Mary’s	86-80-78-244		+	28
MC. Josh Bevell, Miss. St.	84-78-84-246		+	30
MC. Mitch Krywulycz, Augusta St.	89-82-75-246		+	30
MC. Max Greil, UC Irvine	85-75-88-248		+	32
MC. Jim Markovitz, Penn St.	81-79-89-249		+	33
MC. Santiago Quirarte, Indiana	83-84-83-250		+	34
MC. Keith Guest, Augusta St.	85-83-83-251		+	35
MC. Travis Wadkins, W. Forest	82-88-81-251		+	35
MC. Michael McRae, St. Mary’s	89-81-82-252		+	36
MC. Steven Rojas, Virginia	88-79-86-253		+	37
MC. Simon Doherty, ETSU	85-83-89-257		+	41

Posted: 5/31/2008

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