Stage all by himself for Braden Thornberry.
I know he would like to finish it off with a birdie,
he was under par most of the day
and his mom and dad happy he made the choice to get out of motor cross
and start playing golf.
So Braden Thornberry with the lead, is birdie and he pours it in in style
and there is your 2017 Men’s Individual Champion Braden Thornberry of Ole’ Miss.
Before Braden Thornberry was ever at the NCAA Championship,
he was an active little boy growing up in Olive Branch Mississippi.
Yeah, you know, I didn’t do a whole lot, I was kind of into Tae Kwon Do
and dirt bikes and baseball and just regular stuff kids do
and all over the place.
And when I was about ten-year-old,
that’s kind of when I got done with dirt bikes,
my mom said no more with that kind of stuff, it was too dangerous
and my dad introduced me to golf, he didn’t really push me at all
but just showed me the basics and I liked it a lot
and just kind of went from there.
With his safety ensured, a hobby would evolve into a passion.
Pretty much, I was focused on golf since I started it.
You know, I was 12 or 13 before I really knew that’s what I wanted to do
throughout high school and college and stuff like that.
Leading into middle school and high school,
Braden led his golf team as the top player.
Through his talent and hard work,
he eventually ended up at the 2017 NCAA Men’s Golf Championship.
For most, coming into the NCAA Championship as the overall leader,
would be stressful.
But for Braden, having his constant sense of composure and calm mentality
is just another part of the game.
On a tough golf course like that, you know, it’s going to be –
there’s such a small difference between good golf and bad golf,
so I just kind of got lucky, I hit a hot streak and over 72 holes,
it’s going to come at one point and mine just happened the first 12 holes or so.
So, you know, I kind of just rode that momentum the rest of the week.
Braden went smoothly through the first three rounds,
eventually propelling himself to the top
as he came into the final round as the overall leader.
A look at Rich Harvest Farm, Sugar Grove Illinois
an individual champion will be crowned today
in the Men’s Division One Championships.
Who will it be?
Scotty Scheffler of Texas started the day with a two shot lead, made bogey
and then a triple on his first two holes of the day.
Braden Thornberry of Ole’ Miss sits atop the leaderboard;
two shots clear of Matius Schwab.
A lot of people, you know, kind of do that look in the rearview mirror
and get a little nervous,
but I kind of think of it as if I’m beating the field by this much at this point,
that should give me confidence that I can do it the rest of the week,
so I kind of just take that confidence and just try to ride it out.
Normally, you may get a guy that masks that a little bit better than others,
and tries to act the part and he was no different at all,
approached it just like any other day, which makes him pretty special.
Braden pipes it down the middle on the first hole,
hits a good shot in there, gets settled in.
Once we were out there onto the first fairway,
there was a lot more sense of normalcy than everything leading up to it.
Thornberry doesn’t waste any time.
I love it.
That’s a self-taught swing right there and effective.
Another good one there by Thornberry.
Oh my.
[Cheering].
That was a solid strike with a lot of speed.
Yep a good shot, very good shot.
Well done.
[Cheering].
You can’t go down there and lay it down there any better.
He almost hit into the group in front of him.
That’s an excellent play.
Oh my goodness.
That’s just how you draw it up right there.
Exactly, and that’s the advantage of being aggressive.
Thirteen, when I was talking about the par three,
that’s where I saw I had a two shot lead or a one shot lead, maybe.
I hit a bad shot, I right to the green there and a bad lie
and didn’t hit a very good chip either up to about 15 feet or so.
Second on the way for Thornberry at 13.
And races on by, it got away from his, that’s not what he was looking for there.
I was able to make that for par so that was a big momentum putt,
to kind of keep the lead and not start leaking a little bit coming in.
[Cheering]
How about that?
Braden Thornberry up and down at 13, remains 11 under.
Coming into hole 15,
Braden would face one of his more difficult moments of the day,
but he continued to keep his calm attitude.
I had seen people over there, you know, previously in the week
and I hadn’t seen a whole lot of good over there, so I wasn’t liking my chances.
But, I got out there had a somewhat clean lie in the rough
and had to cut it about 30 or 40 yards.
He’s out of that to the right, his clubface is open,
never got that one square, that is way right.
Hard to imagine he’ll be over there
and have any chance of going to the green, trees are everywhere.
Even after that shot, I looked at him seeing him in control,
we get up there and he was behind the tree but he had a shot.
So, he hit probably one of his best shots of the day, you know,
carved it around the tree kicked it over the back part of the green
and got it up and down for par.
Did you get a look at where Braden Thornberry's ball wound up?
I did.
Came out pretty clean, and it’s cutting.
Oh, unbelievable solid strike there, it’s over the back of the green,
but from where he was that’s an excellent shot.
You know, a kind of shot I’m kind of good at with me being more
feel as compared to the swings and stuff like that, it worked out for me,
I was able to cut it up there and make par and that kind of boosted me up.
Huge par putt here for Braden Thornberry.
This is one he’s got to make, Bob.
Wow.
[Cheering]
That’s an amazing pace that he putts at, I don’t think he could ever go too fast.
15 is where I hit it right, so I kind of was losing momentum a little bit
so that shot we were talking about was a big momentum saver
being able to pull off a tough shot like that
and go to 16 without making a bogey there.
Nearing the end of what had so far been a successful day,
Braden was just two holes away from potentially seeing gold.
Our leader and the guy who’s trying to win the individual championship,
Braden Thornberry here at 17.
On 17, I played it pretty much perfect
but, it was one of those holes all week that had been giving people trouble,
it was eights and sevens and sixes on that hole.
So, you know, when you’re playing with a lead
that’s not the type of hole you want to have to play coming in.
Yeah, Kirk could not be a harder circumstance
to hit a thin landing area like this when pushing off the left.
This one’s down the right side, he is going to need a good bounce.
It slowed down.
Okay, it stays out of the primary,
so he has a pretty good lie in the first cut of rough.
Luckily I was able to get that one in the fairway and over the water
on the green, so once that one was on the green I liked my chances.
Thornberry from 136.
Ready to go.
That sounded a little skinny but should be dry.
Is it ever.
Wow, right at it, Braden Thornberry your leader
just attacking the flagstick on his second to last hole.
[MUSIC]
He’s a fantastic putter, my gosh has he made some great putts.
And a good par there on the toughest hole on the golf course.
[MUSIC]
Yeah, my whole career was kind of setting up for that moment.
We were standing on the tee
and I asked coach to look at the leaderboard one last time,
and he said I had a four shot lead so I knew, unless something insane happened,
that I had it won.
He gets up there and he kind of looked at me and I knew the question was coming,
I started thinking about it on the 17th hole
and he looked at me and he said, “Do you think I can hit driver?”
I said, “You better hit driver.”
So, you could see he was relived.
Like, you know, we stayed aggressive all week and we might as well do it
on the last hole and I was able to rip it down there right in the little slot,
and it worked out perfect for me.
Braden Thornberry of Ole’ Miss on the tee at 18 with a four shot lead
trying to lock up the individual championship.
Looked like he blistered it right down the middle and he did
that is long all the way down in the flat,
he’ll be able to get there in two easy,
one of the best drives we’ve seen all day.
I was 195 out, I believe on my second shot
and I tried to just hit it up there a little short right
to not bring any of the trouble and stuff like that.
Now Braden Thornberry, Billy Ray,
working quickly on a four shot lead about to do something
that you accomplished at the University of Houston,
win an individual championship.
Yeah, certainly his life will change after this,
and landing gets on with it quickly just like yourself,
but this is going to be a time in his life
that he’s certainly going to have to enjoy
to win that National Title as an individual is huge.
I like the way he plays and he’s played very solid today,
he made every putt he needed to make to get the job done.
You know, with that big of a lead, I couldn’t mess it up at that point,
so really I was just trying to make that putt, you know,
it would be a cool feeling ending on a six-footer and stuff like that.
I putted so well all day that I liked my chances over it and it felt good.
So Braden Thornberry, with the lead, his birdie and he pours it in in style
and there is your 2017 Men’s Individual Champion, Braden Thornberry of Ole’ Miss.
Pretty cool just knowing the hard work from the whole season had worked out
and kind of for it all to come together at that last week
and have my friends and family there and my entire team supporting that last day.
I was kind of, you know, just looking forward to what was next, you know
having to do the interviews and stuff like that
and just knowing it was going to be a pretty cool night.
And our Individual Champion, with an 11 under 277,
from the University of Mississippi, Braden Thornberry.
[Cheering].
[MUSIC].