Zahidali Nathu is taking plenty of momentum with him to next week’s NAIA Men’s Golf National Championship in Arizona.

The Richmond native and UBC Thunderbirds fourth-year member captured the men’s individual title at last weekend’s 33rd annual PGA Works Collegiate Championship in Port. Lucie, Florida.

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Nathu drained a 40-foot eagle putt on the par-5 17th hole to edge Florida A&M’s Logan Bryant in a playoff to take top honours. It’s the first year players from Canadian schools were invited to the tournament and Nathu was joined by UBC teammate Andy Kim. The Hugh Boyd graduate fired rounds of 71-74-71 to finish at even par before his memorable putt.

“This tournament is the biggest win of my career so far," said Nathu. "Andy (Kim) and I were last-minute additions to the field and coach Chris (MacDonald) and I felt that this could be a great opportunity for both of us to have a tune-up before we went to NAIA nationals and Canadian nationals.

“ I knew I had a great chance at contending in this event with how my game was feeling after conference. I had just come off shooting a college career low of 66 in the final round of conference and knew my game was in good shape.

“Over my career at UBC, I have been given the opportunity to play so many great events against so many good players," said Nathu. "Our schedule rivals American universities, and to be consistently ranked inside the top-10 in the NAIA shows just how good our team is.”

The Thunderbirds will conclude their season at the Canadian University/College Championship in Ontario May 28-31.

— With files from Wilson Wong UBC Athletics