TEMPE, Ariz. -- Sophomore Devin Heid's final round 67 helped lift the Cougars to an eighth-place finish at the ASU Thunderbird/SAVANNE Invitational on Saturday.
Heid made six consecutive birdies on the back nine of the final round giving him his second 67 of the tournament. The Sophomore from Fallbrook, Calif. carded a career best eight-under par 208 (67-74-67) for a seventh-place individual finish.
"I was just hoping to contribute to the team and play consistent golf," Heid said. "After settling down and playing consistent golf, I was lucky enough to help our team out."
In only his second tournament of the season for BYU, Heid seized the opportunity to earn his first top-ten finish for the Cougars against a very talented and highly-ranked field.
The Cougars shot their best 54-hole total of the season (14-under-par) finishing two shots behind sixth-ranked Oklahoma State. No. 7 Texas earned the team championshiop shooting a sizzling 32-under-par. The Cougars once again defeated a number of ranked opponents including No. 17 Oklahoma, No. 11 Washington, No. 22 New Mexico and No. 9 USC.
"This team has made tremendous improvements this year," BYU head coach Bruce Brockbank said. "It's exciting to see our young players playing well. Shooting 14-under-par is a great accomplishment and I think this was the best tournament of the season for our team. We're really starting to build confidence as we head down the final stretch of the season."
Greg Machtaler, who was in fifth place after the first day thanks to a second-round 64, shot a final round 76 to finish six-under-par (70-64-76--210). Machtaler finished 14th individually a new career best for the true freshman from British Colombia.
"The play of Devin Heid and Greg Machtaler was the real highlight of this tournament," Brockbank said. "These two young men really stepped it up for us."
Senior Manuel Merizalde also was a factor in BYU success as he finished two-under par (70-72-72--214).
The Cougars now gear up to host the Cougar Classic at Riverside Country Club on Friday and Saturday April 19-20.
"I'm interested in seeing how our team responds this next weekend at the Cougar Classic. We've had some momentum as of late and I hope we can continue in that direction."
TEAM RESULTS
1 Texas, Univ. of 271 276 285 832 -32
2 Arizona State U. 279 279 280 838 -26
3 Pepperdine Univ. 287 275 277 839 -25
4 Oregon, U. of 283 280 280 843 -21
5 Arizona, U. of 282 281 282 845 -19
TCU 283 282 280 845 -19
7 Oklahoma State U. 285 276 287 848 -16
8 Brigham Young Univ. 279 287 284 850 -14
9 UCLA 287 283 282 852 -12
10 New Mexico, U. of 281 280 292 853 -11
11 Southern California 280 287 287 854 -10
12 Oklahoma, U. of 290 281 285 856 -8
13 Stanford University 291 290 285 866 +2
14 Washington, U. of 296 285 288 869 +5
15 Arizona State Maroon 283 290 299 872 +8
16 Houston, Univ. of 299 293 294 886 +22
BYU INDIVIDUAL SCORES
T 7 Devin Heid 67 74 67 208
T 14 Greg Machtaler 70 64 76 210
T 31 Manuel Merizalde 70 72 72 214
T 68 Kyle Wight 72 77 73 222
T 68 Ron Harvey, Jr. 72 78 72 222
Fin. Top 20 Players School Scores
1 Bret Guetz TCU 68 65 67 200
2 John Klauk Texas 67 66 70 203
3 Chris Carnahan Oregon 68 64 73 205
4 Randy Creighton Pepperdine 73 67 67 207
Par Nilsson Okla. St. 70 65 72 207
Pat Moore Arizona St 67 64 76 207
7 Scott Hailes New Mexico 68 66 74 208
Jim Seki Stanford 70 70 68 208
Devin Heid BYU 67 74 67 208
10 Ricky Barnes Arizona 70 69 70 209
Cody Freeman Oklahoma 70 68 71 209
J.J. Wall Texas 68 70 71 209
David Oh USC 69 71 69 209
14 John Merrick UCLA 71 69 70 210
Jason Allred Pepperdine 73 66 71 210
Jesse Mueller Arizona St 69 70 71 210
Greg Machtaler BYU 70 64 76 210
Steve Conway UCLA 72 68 70 210
19 Aaron Byers Oregon 71 72 68 211
Tyler Erickson ASU Maroon 71 71 69 211
Chris Nallen Arizona 70 70 71 211
Brady Stockton Arizona St 71 73 67 211
Michael Putnam Pepperdine 69 71 71 211