Tucson, AZ -- In its first spring tournament, the BYU men's golf team finished 15th at the PING-Arizona Intercollegiate on Tuesday.
On Monday, second round play was suspended due to darkness, and play resumed on Tuesday. Senior Manuel Merizalde and freshman Greg Macthaler led the Cougars as they both shot 68 (-3). BYU surged in the second round with a team score of 275 (-9), to move up from 17th to 12th.
"That was a real positive for us this tournament," said BYU head coach Bruce Brockbank. "Nine-under is an impressive score on this type of course."
The third round began later in the day, and the Cougars struggled to stay sharp, as they shot a combined 297 (+13) to finish the tournament.
"We weren't as consistent today as we needed to be," Brockbank said. "Against this type of competition, you've got to be more consistent."
After a long winter layoff inconsistency to start the season is not unexpected, but Brockbank expects the team to become more consistent as the season wears on.
"Our guys haven't played much the last two months and that's always a factor the first couple of tournaments in the spring," Brockbank said.
Merizalde continues to be a force for BYU as he was the lone Cougar to be under par in shooting a combined 212 (-1), which put him in a tie for 13th. Freshman Greg Matchaler, who played in his first tournament as a Cougar, tied for 22nd as he shot 215 (+2).
"Matchaler was a big push for us," Brockbank said. "I hope he can continue to shoot these kinds of scores, because we really need him to play well for us."
BYU will next travel to Hawai'i to take part in the John H. Burns Intercollegiate on the island of Oahu, Feb. 20-22.
"We've got three weeks to get ready for our Hawai'i tournament, so hopefully we can get the guys going and play more consistent golf," Brockbank said.
BYU Individual Final Scores
t13 Manuel Merizalde BYU 71 - 68 - 73 212 -1
t22 Greg Machtaler BYU 75 - 68 - 72 215 +2
t57 Kyle Wight BYU 78 - 69 - 74 221 +8
t81 Ron Harvey, Jr. BYU 78 - 70 - 78 226 +13
104 Jared Overton BYU 82 - 80 - 80 242 +29
Final Results
Fin. School Scores
1 Fresno State Univ. 290 270 288 848 -4
2 Oklahoma State U. 283 279 287 849 -3
3 Pepperdine Univ. 286 288 278 574 E
4 Arizona, U. of 287 275 291 853 +1
New Mexico, U. of 282 282 289 853 +1
6 South Carolina 289 281 286 856 +4
7 Southern California 281 282 298 861 +9
8 UCLA 288 282 293 863 +11
9 Washington, U. of 290 277 297 864 +12
10 Tulsa, U. of 288 291 289 868 +16
11 UC-Irvine 290 285 295 870 +18
Oregon, U. of 290 292 288 870 +18
13 California, U. of 287 293 291 871 +19
Arizona Red 294 280 297 871 +19
15 Brigham Young Univ. 302 275 297 874 +22
16 Oregon State U. 295 284 297 876 +24
17 Mississippi, U. of 298 289 290 877 +25
18 Southern Methodist 304 287 288 879 +27
19 Arizona State U. 299 289 294 882 +30
20 Long Beach State 303 295 301 899 +47