NOBLESVILLE, Ind. -- Walking off the first hole after a double-bogey on Friday, ACU junior golfer
Cyril Bouniol could have easily wound up shooting a score in the mid-70s that would have dropped him out of contention for the NCAA Division II individual national championship.
Instead he stepped up to the tee on the par-5 No. 2, striped a ball right down the middle, went for the green in two and made an eagle to right his ship. He went on to make birdie on the next hole and he never looked back, building as much as a 10-stroke lead before settling for a six-stroke win at the NCAA Division II national championship golf tournament at the Sagamore Golf Club.
Bouniol's win makes him the second ACU golfer to win the individual national championship, joining current PGA Tour veteran Jeev Singh as the only Wildcats to win the title. Singh won the crown in 1993 when he led the Wildcats to the team championship.
Bouniol finished Friday's round at 2-under 70 as he finished the four-round event with a score of 3-under-par 285, six shots better than Central Missouri's Justin Yoder, who finished at 3-over-par 291. The six-shot difference could have been greater if not for bogeys on Nos. 16 and 17 when he was playing safe and a penalty stroke assessed after the round for slow play on No. 13.
But by the time Bouniol had reached the latter stages of the round, ACU head coach Mike Campbell knew his player had wrapped up the title.
"This course is not easy at all, but Cyril just ripped it up all week," Campbell said. "After he got that double-bogey on No. 1 he walked off the green and he was still in the zone. He handled his emotions really well and he hit the next ball right down the middle and made eagle. I knew after that happened that he would have a good day. He was in control of his game, and I knew after that he would be fine."
For Bouniol, Friday's round capped a week that saw him move from a tie for 20th after the first round to national champion. After Bouniol fired that opening-round 76 on Tuesday, he fired his putter, putting a new flat stick in his bag for the final three rounds.
"I went to a putter with a softer face, and that made all the difference," he said. "I struck the ball really well all week, and that was the case on Monday, too. But I was so scared on the greens, and I didn't putt well at all in the first round. After I made the putter change, it made all the difference.
"After startring with that double-bogey on the first hole today, I just told myself not to panic," Bouniol said. "In the past I might have panicked, but I didn't panic (Friday). I just stayed with the same game plan and I went for the green on no. 2 and made eagle."
Bouniol pulled away on the tough back nine at the par-72, 7,173-yard layout, carding birdies at Nos. 11, 13, 14 and 15, putting him 10 strokes ahead of the field going to the tough holes at Nos. 16 and 17. Playing smart golf, Bouniol said, he took bogeys on both holes as he stayed out of trouble and left both greens with a minimum of damage.
"I just took my bogeys and played smart on those two holes," Bouniol said. "I knew I was well ahead and taking my score pretty deep, so I knew I had some room to play with. I just didn't want to try and be a hero and impress people when I didn't need to do that."
Bouniol didn't even realize that he had won the national championship until he walked off the No. 18 green after sinking a short par putt. Even then, he was still so focused on his round that he couldn't tell his parents during a celebratory phone call back to France how he had won.
"All week long my focus was just shot-to-shot, not worrying about anything that was going on around me," he said. "Even (Friday), I didn't see anything going on around me: the people following me, the cameras taking my picture, the video cameras ... nothing. I was in communication with Coach Campell, and that was the only thing I saw.
"I couldn't have imagined before this tournament that I woudl go 3-under-par and win the national championship," Bouniol said. "I thought after the practice round on Monday that even-par would win the tournament (which it would have). But I'm really proud of the way I handled everything this week. I feel like a more mature golfer than I did even one month ago. I feel like I can go out now and dominate and win golf tournaments."
The victory caps a sensational year for the ACU golf program, putting the Wildcats back on the national scene. Bouniol not only won the national championship, but he also won the Arnold Palmer Award for earning medalist honors and was named a PING Golf first team all-America. And freshman
Alex Carpenter won the Phil Mickelson Award presented by the Phil and Amy Mickelson Foundation as the most outstanding freshman in NCAA Division II men's golf. ACU also won its first Lone Star Conference championship since 1995 as Bouniol and Carpenter tied for medalist honors at the tournament.
"We had just a tremendous year," Campbell said. "With all the guys we have coming back next year, I'm already ready to start next season. The future looks very bright for ACU golf."
