As proven in 09 and this year, the excitement all depends on the score going into the final 9.
And the scores going into that final 9 are determined by the rest of the courses in the tournament.
In all reality, it doesn't matter what kind of course you use for the Final 9. If the leader has a comfortable lead going in, he/she can pretty much play par golf and coast to a win as there are only so many strokes the other players can make up if they do that.
FWIW, here's the men's and women's Final 9 results for the last ten years...
Year Division Winner Runner(s)-Up Margin at Start of Final Nine - Margin at Finish
2011 MPO Nate Doss Will Schusterick / Josh Anthon 6 - 7
2011 FPO Paige Pierce Valarie Jenkins 0 - 3
2010 MPO Eric McCabe J. Anthon / P. Ulibarri / D. Feldberg 3 - 5
2010 FPO Sarah Stanhope Des Reading 12 - 6
2009 MPO Avery Jenkins Josh Anthon 2 - 0*
2009 FPO Valarie Jenkins Des Reading 16 - 14
2008 MPO Dave Feldberg Nate Doss 13 - 14
2008 FPO Valarie Jenkins Des Reading 10 - 12
2007 MPO Nate Doss Markus Källström 2 - 1
2007 FPO Valarie Jenkins Des Reading 4 - 5
2006 MPO Ken Climo Nate Doss 4 - 5
2006 FPO Des Reading Carrie Berlogar / Courtney Peavy 9 - 9
2005 MPO Nate Doss Barry Schultz / Matt Orum 5 - 3
2005 FPO Des Reading Juliana Korver 16 - 18
2004 MPO Barry Schultz Ken Climo 11 - 9
2004 FPO Birgitta Lagerholm Des Reading 5 - 2
2003 MPO Barry Schultz Markus Källström 5 - 6
2003 FPO Juliana Korver Des Reading 7 - 11
2002 MPO Ken Climo Barry Schultz 11 - 14
2002 FPO Des Reading Juliana Korver 6 - 8
* Avery Jenkins won in sudden death
A lot more victory laps there than close races, and even in some of the cases where it looked close by numbers, I'd suspect it was a matter of the eventual winner 'running out the clock' once they were down to the last couple of holes (for lack of a better term).