Darren Wallace tapped in his final putt, looked up and saw the herd of University of Washington men’s golf teammates running onto the 18th green to hail him.

For a split second, he crouched to escape the attention – the only time in the three-day Pacific-10 Conference championships he flinched.

A junior from Vancouver, B.C., Wallace highlighted the Huskies’ big week at Seattle Golf Club by capturing medalist honors Wednesday after his closing 2-under-par 70.

His 11-under 277 total for 72 holes beat teammate, and fellow Canadian, Nick Taylor (281) by four strokes.

UW, the host school, won the team championship at 16-under 1424 – and by a whopping 18 strokes over Oregon (1442).

The sound triumph over higher-ranked teams Stanford (fourth at 1464) and Southern California (eighth at 1474) could catapult the Huskies into the West Coast’s top seed for the NCAA Regionals on May 14-16.

Asked if he was startled by the margin of victory, UW coach Matt Thurmond hesitated a few seconds, then responded, “The politically correct thing would be to say it was a surprise, but we won by 15 last week at Stanford, won by 15 at Oregon. We’ve had some convincing victories.”

None as satisfying as this.

Wallace, who became the first Huskies golfer to win the Pac-10 title since Erik Olson in 2005, tied the course record Tuesday with a 65. And when challengers crept within striking distance Wednesday, Wallace relied on the skill that has gotten him going the past month – putting.

Just short of the green in two strokes on the par-5 ninth, Wallace curled in a 45-foot eagle putt to take a sizable cushion to the final nine holes.

“I always felt like I was going to play well this year,” said Wallace, who was the UW’s highest finisher at the Pac-10 championships last year, tied for 13th. “It’s important to build your game for the postseason because everyone wants to win that NCAA title, and nobody will remember the little victories earlier in the year.”

Wallace has come a long way. He often was the last player to fill out the lineup a year ago when the Huskies finished seventh at the NCAA tournament.

He started this season No. 5 in the six-player lineup but was the No. 2 player at the U.S. Intercollegiate on April 19 in Palo Alto, Calif. Sophomore Tze Huang Choo has come on as well; he finished eighth Wednesday at 287.

“Things kind of have come together for us, and we’ve fed off all the good energy everyone has been giving out,” Choo said.

The win Wednesday marked the UW’s fifth tournament championship of the season. Wallace became the third UW golfer to win an event.

“To play as well as we have, you have to have all things firing,” Thurmond said. “We’ve been awesome at the top of the lineup, and awesome at the bottom, too.”

Short game

Wallace was the only golfer in the field to shoot four rounds of par or better. ... Oregon’s Daniel Miernicki and UCLA’s Erik Flores were the top non-UW finishers, tying for third at 283. ... The regional format has changed to six tournaments (instead of three), with five schools advancing from each to the NCAA tournament.

TRACKING RYAN MOORE

This week: PGA Tour’s Quail Hollow Championship, today through Sunday, Quail Hollow Club, Charlotte, N.C.

World ranking: 155th.

2009 earnings: $426,739 (75th on the PGA Tour).

Last tournament: The Puyallup golfer made his fourth consecutive cut of the season with his tied-for-42nd finish (3-under 285) at last week’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Moore has quietly established himself again as one of the best putters on tour, but his ball-striking continues to be inconsistent.

Tee time today: 9:10 a.m. (PDT) off the 10th tee with Steve Marino and Troy Matteson.

Todd Milles, The News Tribune