TUCSON, Arizona – Zac Jones won the N.I.T. at OMNI Tucson National Golf Club with rounds of 65, 69 and 64, ending the two-day, 54-hole tournament at 18-under-par. The final round of 64, eight-under, is a collegiate low for Jones.
“I’m very impressed with how everyone on the team prepared for this week,” Jones said. “I got off to a hot start, and on top of that, I was doing everything else well. The highlight of the final round was the chip-in eagle that kickstarted my collegiate-career-low round of eight-under, 64. Excited for what’s to come for the Cougars.”
The junior made 18 birdies and one eagle throughout the tournament, including knocking one in from the fairway on hole 13 in the final round, to win with the second-lowest player score in tournament history.
The 2024 N.I.T. took the place of the Arizona Intercollegiate, which is the tournament that Jones won last season to open the spring campaign.
The Cougars finished fourth as a team, with rounds of 278, 273 and 271, finishing at 822, 42-under-par. New Mexico took home the team title at 51-under-par (273-265-275 – 813), with Arizona and Arizona State close behind in second and third, respectively.
“I thought the team played some really great golf this week,” said BYU head coach Bruce Brockbank. “We had some stretches that gave us a chance to win the tournament, but we just gave away too many shots. But all in all, for the first tournament out of the winter, it was very positive, and we have things to build on.”
Keanu Akina tied for 17th with rounds of 70, 66 and 70 to finish 10-under par. Max Brenchley (72-70-68 – 210, -4), Peter Kim (71-70-72 – 213, -3) and Cooper Jones (77-68-69 – 214, -2) rounded out the scoring for the Cougar squad.
"This was a really solid performance from our team," said BYU director of golf Todd Miller. "The amount of birdies these guys made the last three rounds makes me excited for our spring season. We get home tonight and will get back to practice tomorrow preparing for Hawaii."
The Cougars' next tournament is the John Burns Intercollegiate in Hokiala, Hawaii, running Feb. 15-17.