Ole Miss' Braden Thornberry Wins NCAA Men's Golf Championships 2017 by 4 Strokes

Braden Thornberry of Ole Miss is the men's individual NCAA golf champion after finishing minus-11 for the tournament at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Illinois.

Although he trailed Scottie Scheffler of Texas by two strokes entering the day, a final round of 71 Monday gave Thornberry the title, four strokes ahead of Mason Overstreet in second.

Vanderbilt dominated the stroke-play portion of the team competition and will be the top seed in the match-play quarterfinals beginning Tuesday.

Individual Event

1. Braden Thornberry, Ole Miss (-11)

2. Mason Overstreet, Arkansas (-7)

T3. Scottie Scheffler, Texas (-6)

T3. Theo Humphrey, Vanderbilt (-6)

T3. Matthias Schwab, Vanderbilt (-6)

T6. Rico Hoey, Southern California (-4)

T6. Dylan Meyer, Illinois (-4)

T8. John Oda, UNLV (-3)

T8. Viktor Hovland, Oklahoma State (-3)

T8. John Augenstein, Vanderbilt (-3)

After low scores throughout the tournament, Monday's conditions created significant problems for most of the field. Kevin Casey of Golfweek described the problems:

Scheffler learned about these problems right from the start. The 54-hole leader started his day with a bogey and a triple bogey on his first two holes, which removed his cushion coming into the day.

His round didn't get much better, and his double bogey on the final hole gave him a score of 78. This was a major disappointment after carding a 68 in each of his first three rounds.

Meanwhile, Thornberry seemingly wasn't affected by anything on Monday.

He took over the lead thanks to Scheffler's struggles, but this eagle on the par-four sixth gave him a cushion:

This was part of a dominant run on par fours, as Justin Ray of Golf Channel noted:

He came back to Earth a bit on the back nine with a pair of bogeys to keep others in contention.

Vanderbilt's Matthias Schwab provided some competition down the stretch, pulling as close as one stroke back with four holes left until a triple bogey on No. 15 hurt his cause. He ended up in a tie for third.

Overstreet of Arkansas then put the pressure on with his five birdies, none better than this shot out of the sand on No. 10:

Still, Thornberry kept hitting his pars to stay in front while the rest of the field failed to keep up.

This birdie shot on No. 18 clinched the victory for the young player:

While just a sophomore, the Ole Miss star was the most consistent throughout the tournament and stepped up when needed for the win.

Team Event

1. Vanderbilt (-13)

2. Oklahoma (-1)

3. Illinois (+2)

4. Oklahoma State (+3)

T5. Oregon (+6)

T5. Southern California (+6)

T7. Baylor (+7)

T7. UNLV (+7)

Vanderbilt was the best team coming into the day and that didn't stop Monday with another impressive performance.

Schwab was the star coming in, but Theo Humphrey and John Augenstein were also on their game to cruise while everyone else seemed to struggle. All three players finished in the top 10 in the individual tournament, making this group a terrifying opponent going forward.

Oklahoma followed behind in second place thanks to Grant Hirschman leading the way with a 74.

However, the rest of the field featured a lot of movement throughout the day with everyone just trying to finish within the top eight spots to advance to the next stage.

Oregon was the first of the contenders into the clubhouse with a combined score of plus-six. Ryan Gronlund was a big part of this score thanks to four straight birdies to close out the round:

The defending champs were in ninth when it finished, but the tough conditions pushed them back into contention as the rest of the field fell apart.

USC struggled down the stretch to end up even with the Ducks after entering the day 18 strokes better.

These teams just kept moving up as the rest of the field posted higher and higher numbers. Virginia was the big loser as its plus-19 score on the day pushed the Cavaliers outside the cut line.

UNLV was right on the brink, although chip shots like this went a long way:

John Oda came through for the team again on No. 18 as his final birdie clinched a spot in the next round. LSU ended up in ninth place, two strokes away from the next round.

The eight teams still alive will now battle in a match-play format, with the quarterfinals and semifinals set for Tuesday. The national champion will be crowned Wednesday following the title game between the two remaining squads.

Considering the No. 1 seed has never won in this format, anything can happen over the next two days.