Brittany Fan has spent her entire golf career focused solely on getting better.
That mind-set has never changed over the years and it still won’t after she won her first collegiate tournament on Tuesday.
The Colorado senior, playing in one of her final five tournaments decked out in Buffaloes apparel, closed with a 1-over 73 to win a share of the Meadow Club Women’s Collegiate title with San Francisco’s Samantha Gong in Fairfax, Calif.
Fan finished the two-day tournament at 4 under after taking the 18-hole lead following a 5-under 67 on Monday.
PROFILE
Brittany Fan
Colorado
5 feet 9 Senior
Kamehameha 2014
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
>> Earned first win Tuesday at Meadow Club Women’s Collegiate.
>> Her 12 consecutive top-20 finishes are third-best in school history.
>> Previous best finishes were a tie for fourth at the Silverado Showdown as a junior and third place at the Bay Area Intercollegiate as a sophomore.
>> Competed in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championships in 2017.
>> Tied for 11th at the 2017 Pac-12 Championships.
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“It was really nice for a first win,” said Fan, a 2014 Kamehameha alumna. “It’s a great confidence boost for me going into the next event, but I still have that never satisfied feeling I’ve always had.
“There’s always something to work on, but I think it’s great for momentum and for my confidence it’s good to get one under the belt finally.”
Fan finished in the top 20 for a 12th consecutive time dating back to last year, but she’d had only one top-10 finish so far during her senior season.
She had posted only two top-five finishes in her career before taking the overnight lead following her seven birdies on Monday.
Fan began her final round with a birdie on the first and bounced back from a bogey on No. 6 with a birdie on nine to go out in 1 under.
Her lead dwindled with a double bogey on No. 10, and a bogey on 13 suddenly put her on the outside looking in.
Her shot of the tournament happened on the par-5 15th when she scorched a drive off the tee and tried to reach the green in two with a 3-wood. Her second shot ended up just off the green, but she holed out a chip for eagle to move back in front by one.
“I hit a really nice drive to a really good angle and tried to bomb (the second shot) onto the green,” Fan said. “I’ve been working really hard around the greens, and so to chip in for eagle was nice to see that hard work paying off.”
Fan three-putted for bogey on 16 to drop back to 4 under but was able to par out the final two holes to get that elusive first title.
“I felt pretty good (coming in) because we’ve played two tournaments right before this and there are some specific things I’ve worked on tightening up that were coming together,” she said. “I’d never had a lead going into the last day — maybe a top five or top three — so there was of course a little bit of pressure going into the round, but I just tried not to look at anything and not pay attention to any media and just go play the same way as the first round.”
Her coaches were busy scoreboard watching down the stretch, but Fan tried to stay away from focusing on the other golfers in the tournament.
“I didn’t know exactly (where I stood), but I knew it was going to be close,” Fan said. “I tried to play a little more aggressively the last four holes — not dumb or anything, but aggressive, because you’ve got to put yourself out there and go for it trying to make birdies when you get a chance to win a tournament.”
Fan led the tournament in par-5 scoring, averaging 4.38 strokes. She had a team-high nine birdies to help Colorado finish fourth in the 16-team field behind Washington, San Francisco and Oregon State.
Brigham Young junior Rose Huang, a 2015 ‘Iolani alumna, finished in a tie for 41st place at 8-over 152 after shooting back-to-back rounds of 76.
UCLA sophomore Mariel Galdiano, a 2016 Punahou alumna, nearly made it two winners from Hawaii on Tuesday.
Galdiano finished runner-up to UCLA teammate Lilia Vu at the Arizona Wildcat Invitational in Tucson, Ariz. She closed with a tournament-best 5-under 67 to finish at 11-under 205, three strokes behind Vu and four shots ahead of the third-place finisher.