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Lovemark Wins the NCAA Golf Title.

By Paragon SC

USC Freshman Jamie Lovemark fired his second straight six-under-par 64 to win the NCAA Individual Golf Title in Williamsburg, VA. Lovemark beat Clemson's Kyle Stanley by two shots and Stanford's Rob Grube by three shots.

[...] Lovemark, the Pacific 10 Conference champion, was three off the lead when the round began. He was four behind Stanley when he reached the 14th tee, then followed a par with three consecutive birdies. Bogeys by Stanley at No. 12 and 14 gave Lovemark the lead all to himself, and Stanley came to the final hole needing birdie to tie.

Stanley hit a good drive, but his ball came to rest in a divot. His approach on the par-4 hole missed the green to the right, and his chip from high grass came up about five feet from the cup. Disappointed, he two-putted for his third bogey of the round.

That left Grube as the lone likely challenger. He was seven under through 14 holes, but three pars and a finishing bogey left him third. The national title was a nice consolation prize, he said, and one the team set as its goal before the season.

While #5 USC was eliminated from team competition on Friday, just missing the cut. Lovemark's teammates stayed on to cheer him on for the individual competition. Stanford absolutely crushed the field in the team competition winning by 12 shots, The University of Georgia came in 2nd.

From the USC Website.

Lovemark became just the eighth freshman to win the NCAA individual title and second in a row after Oklahoma State's Jonathan Moore did it last year. Other freshmen to do it include Arizona Staste's Alejandro Canizares (2003) and Phil Mickelson (1989), Minnesota's James McLean (1998), Houston's Billy Ray Brown (1982), Wake Forest's Curtis Strange (1974) and Texas' Ben Crenshaw (1971).

Lovemark, who entered the championships ranked No. 1 in the country by Golfweek.com, is also the 10th Pac-10 player to win an NCAA title. Only ASU (four) has more individual title winners than USC's three.

Lovemark, who is a candidate for  NCAA player of the year, is in pretty good company as a freshman winner of the NCAA Title, he now heads across the pond to compete in the Palmer Cup that pits amateurs from the United States against Europeans.

Congrats Jamie and Good Luck!

FIGHT ON!

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