WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Former Oklahoma City University coach Derek Freeman guided UCLA in capturing its first NCAA men's golf national championship since 1988 on Saturday.

Freeman led the Stars to the 2005 NAIA women's golf championship to earn NAIA coach of the year. Under Freeman's direction, OCU's women's golf team also finished as NAIA runner-up in 2004.

UCLA won by the slimmest of margins, firing a 306 in the final round to win by one stroke over Stanford. The Bruins finished 42-over par, shooting 297-293-298-306–1,194. The Kampen Course at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex provided a tough test for the nation's best teams as UCLA's 42-over par was the best total of the week and only two strokes separated the top three teams.

Freeman was a two-time NAIA Region VI coach of the year with OCU. He also spent one season as an assistant for both the OCU men's and women's programs. Freeman is in his first season as UCLA head men's golf coach.

"It is just absolutely unbelievable," Freeman said of his team's championship. "We got off to a great start, we really did. We played 6, 7 and 8, which were some of the easier holes, over par and we came back a little bit. Then, at the turn we started to make some shots and made a little headway and I think by 11 or 12 we had a nine- or 10-shot lead. We had a quad and a couple bogeys on 14 and that brought everyone back in it.

"I think coming down the stretch we knew it was close. We were up one, down one and then on 17 we had two balls go in the water. We leaked some oil coming in, but we're up one at the end and I'll take it."

Kevin Chappell of UCLA sunk the championship-clinching shot on the 18th hole, while sewing up the individual title despite carding a 76 on Saturday afternoon. It was the lone misstep of the tournament for the first team all-American, who showed a mastery of the course as the lone individual with two sub-70 rounds. The senior, who finished the tournament with a 2-under-par 69-73-68-76–286, also garnered the Jack Nicklaus collegiate player of the year award and the Arnold Palmer award, which goes to the NCAA champion each year.