WAHIAWA -- The Cougars shot a three-under-par total to finish eighth in the first tournament of the spring season in Hawaii's John Burns Intercollegiate on Friday. This 861 total was just eight shots back of a top-five finish.
BYU's Oscar Alvarez, BYU's newest addition as of January, shot a 69 in final round, which was also the lone score under 70 all week for the Cougars.
"We had four scores under 73, but we need more under 70," said head coach Bruce Brockbank.
"However, I'm excited to see Oscar play well these last two rounds after a tough first day in his first collegiate tournament; it gives us lots of optimism."
Sophomore Greg Machtaler finished as the low Cougar with 71-70-72--213 (-3) and a tie for 12th. Senior Jared Overton shot four-over-par (74-73-73--220) to tie for 47th. And sophomore Ron Harvey, Jr. along with freshman Daniel Summerhays tied for 53rd shooting five-over-par.
"The team is a little rusty from the three month break," Brockbank said. "Whereas some of these other schools came from warmer climates and had a shorter break. Plus, the schools that did well played more aggressive and made more putts."
The Cougars lost their momentum and most of their shots in their putting and on their finishing holes.
"Our plan is to work off this rust and in a couple of weeks, we'll be playing great," Brockbank said.
San Diego State's Lars Johansson finished eight-under-par (74-66-68--208) to win the tourney along with Arizona killing the field with a seven-shot lead.
Fin. School Scores
1 Arizona, U. of 280-283-280--843 (-21)
2 San Diego State U. 284-282-284--850 (-14)
New Mexico, U. of 281-286-283--850 (-14)
4 UNLV 288-279-284--851 (-13)
5 SMU 281-285-287--853 (-11)
6 Auburn University 287-287-281--857 (-7)
7 Denver, U. of 287-290-283--860 (-4)
8 Brigham Young 289-286-286--861 (-3)
9 California, U. of 286-288-289--863 (-1)
10 Utah, Univ. of 287-286-291--864 (E)
11 Hawaii, Univ. of 296-284-288--868 (+4)
12 UC-Santa Barbara 293-290-295--878 (+14)
13 Nagoya University 292-295-295--882 (+18)
Hawaii-Hilo, U. of 296-299-287--882 (+18)
15 Texas El Paso, U. of 292-294-299--885 (+21)
16 San Francisco, U. of 297-298-295--890 (+26)
17 San Jose State Univ. 299-301-295--895 (+31)
18 Pacific, U. of the 296-310-297--903 (+39)
19 UH-White 308-312-311--931 (+67)
Fin.BYU PlayersScore
T12 Greg Machtaler 71-70-72--213 ( --3)
T34 Oscar Alvarez 76-72-69--217 (+1)
T47 Jared Overton 74-73-73--220 ( +4)
T53 Daniel Summerhays 71-78-72--221 (+5)
T53 Ron Harvey, Jr.73-71-77--221 (+5)