AUSTIN -- In a field featuring some of the top collegiate golf teams in the nation, the BYU men's golf team punctuated potential with emphatic results to finish sixth at the Morris Williams Invitational.
The Cougars, 65th in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings, finished ahead of top 10 Oklahoma State (5th), USC (6th) and Fresno State (8th).
"We beat three top 10 teams and that is going to give us some bragging power the rest of the season," said head coach Bruce Brockbank.
After an ineffective second round, the Cougars bounced back with a solid final round of play in shooting seven-over 295.
Kyle Wight, coming off a ninth place finish in the Cleveland Golf Classic, continued his consistent play. Wight carded a final round one-over 73 to finish in a tie for 15th place.
"Kyle had a great tournament and really played consistent golf for us," Brockbank said.
As has been the case thus far in the spring season, the Cougar freshman duo of Greg Machtaler and Ron Harvey Jr. continued their consistent play.
"Greg Machtaler has tremendous potential and I knew it was only a matter of time before he would have this kind of tournament," Brockbank said.
Machtaler shot a team-low two-under 70 in the final round, and he finished with a three round 224 (+8) to finish in a tie for 21st.
"I felt like I hit the ball rally well all tournament. This is the type of course where if you hit a bad shot it will really hurt you.," Machtaler said. "I'm starting to see that I can compete well against the top golfers at this level."
Harvey carded a nine-over 77 in the final round. Overall he shot 225 (+9) to finish one shot behind Machtaler, and in a tie for 23rd.
"We came here trying to build our confidence and I think we should feel pretty confident in the results," Brockbank said.
The second round was suspended due to darkness Monday, so the Cougars resumed play Tuesday morning with three holes remaining before beginning play in the final round.
BYU Individual Scores
T 15 Kyle Wight 74 76 73 223
T 21 Greg Machtaler 73 81 70 224
T 23 Ron Harvey, Jr. 71 77 77 225
T 40 Jared Overton 71 79 80 230
T 47 Manuel Merizalde 75 81 75 231
Fin. School Scores
1 Texas, Univ. of 294 295 294 883 +19
2 Pepperdine Univ. 299 297 290 886 +22
3 TCU 303 294 294 891 +27
4 New Mexico, U. of 305 285 302 892 +28
5 Oklahoma, U. of 293 297 304 894 +30
6 Brigham Young Univ. 289 313 295 897 +33
7 Southern California 301 294 304 899 +35
8 Oklahoma State U. 295 301 307 903 +39
9 Houston, Univ. of 299 301 304 904 +40
10 Fresno State Univ. 302 304 303 909 +45
11 Southern Methodist 298 303 310 911 +47
12 Northwestern 300 308 309 917 +53
13 UNLV 314 310 296 920 +56
14 North Florida, U. of 297 315 309 921 +57
15 Texas A&M University 318 304 310 932 +68