Berganio Struggles but Wins : Golf: Sylmar resident’s nine-stroke lead shrinks to one, but he holds on to take Pacific Coast Amateur by three shots.

U.S. Amateur Public Links champion David Berganio Jr. of Sylmar survived a furious challenge from Jaxon Brigman and won the 25th Pacific Coast Amateur championship by three shots Friday at Forest Highlands Golf Club.

Berganio, a graduate of Alemany High who will be a junior this fall at Arizona, began the day with a nine-shot lead but nearly gave it all away before parring the 18th hole to seal his victory.

After three consecutive under-par rounds (including a course record-tying 64 on opening day), Berganio struggled to a five-over-par 76 Friday and finished with a four-under-par total of 280. Brigman finished with a one-under-par round of 70 Friday and a four-round total of 283, one under par.

The victory was the second major championship for Berganio in three weeks. Last month, he won the U.S. Public Links championship in Columbus, Ind. After taking a couple of days off, Berganio indicated that he will get ready for the U.S. Amateur championship, Aug. 20-25, at The Honors Course in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Berganio admitted after Friday’s round to being tired, having played five rounds (including a practice round) in four days in the 7,000-foot Flagstaff altitude. “I’m not used to playing four consecutive rounds under tournament conditions,” Berganio said. “I’m burned out. I’m also dried out; I’ve never drunk as much water as I have this week, and I’ve been taking my contact lenses out more than I can ever remember.”

Although Berganio had a big lead, he came out playing aggressively but double-bogeyed the par-five fifth hole after hitting an approach shot into the water. “When I made double,” he said, “my attitude changed and I began trying to protect my lead.”

Brigman, a student at Oklahoma State who lives in Abilene, Tex., almost completed a miraculous comeback, but he came to grief on the ninth and 18th holes, which share both a double green and a weeklong legacy of sending scores soaring.

By the eighth hole, Brigman had made up six shots on Berganio, going four under par while Berganio was two over par. But Brigman’s approach shot on the 461-yard, par-four ninth hole found the water in front of the green and he wound up making double-bogey six.

Meanwhile, Berganio was having his own troubles, double-bogeying the 15th and 17th holes. When Brigman sank a 25-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole, the margin was just one shot.

But Brigman’s tee shot on the 582-yard, par-five 18th slipped into a lateral hazard and Brigman could not recover. After pitching out of the hazard, his third shot ended in the trees high above and right of the green, leaving Brigman in a position from which he could do no better than make double-bogey seven.

Berganio, playing behind Brigman, played safely to the green in three shots and two-putted from 20 feet for par and the victory.

His win marked the second year in a row that the champion also has won the U.S. Amateur Public Links championship; Terrence Miskell of Salinas turned the trick last year.

Craig Steinberg of Van Nuys, the two-time defending Southern California Golf Assn. Amateur champion, shot a finishing 75 for a four-round total of 290 that left him alone in eighth place.

Mitch Voges of Simi Valley closed with a 77 and finished with a total of 298.