PROVO -- BYU men's golf team came up a stroke short of victory in the 2003 Cougar Classic as it tied for second at the Riverside Country Club on Saturday.
The Cougars held a one shot lead over Colorado State and Denver heading into the final hole. Colorado State's Martin Laird birdied, while true freshman Oscar Alvarez bogied giving the Rams the team victory. Alvarez's 25-foot birdie putt just missed the cup as it settled six feet from the hole. On his par putt, the ball stopped on the lip and decided not to fall, sealing the victory for Colorado State. BYU finished tied for second with University of Denver at six-under-par while Colorado State ended at seven-under-par. It was almost a Déjàvu of last year's Cougar Classic where Denver, BYU and Colorado State all tied for first.
"I'm real proud of how our guys played," BYU head coach Bruce Brockbank said. "It's unfortunate we couldn't pull this one off. We were close, real close."
Colorado State's Laird took home individual honors while Alvarez and Greg Machtaler tied for third. Machtaler fought through a painful hip injury to shoot two-under in the final round to go four-under for the tournament. This is the second consecutive tournament Machtaler has finished among the top three individuals. Alvarez earned his first top five finish of his career in his first Cougar Classic.
Devin Heid, playing as an individual was the next Cougar at five-over-par and tied for 21st. Freshman Daniel Summerhays struggled in the final round to finish six-over-par while Ron Harvey Jr. finished nine-over-par. Senior Jared Overton, playing in his last home tournament shot a final round 72 to finish eight-over-par.
Next up for the Cougars is the Mountain West Championships held at Sunriver Resort in Sunriver, Ore. on May 1-3.
FINAL RESULTS Ping Golf Cougar Classic
* Individual Riverside C.C. Provo, UT
Dates: 04/25 - 04/26 (Today:04-26-2003)
Par: 72 Yardage: 7001
Fin. School Scores
1 Colorado State Univ. 283 288 286 857 -7
2 Denver, U. of 284 283 291 858 -6
Brigham Young Univ. 285 282 291 858 -6
4 Utah, Univ. of 283 289 295 867 +3
5 Nevada, Univ. of 289 284 299 872 +8
6 Boise State Univ. 292 299 296 887 +23
7 Hawaii, Univ. of 297 299 300 896 +32
Wyoming, U. of 292 297 307 896 +32
9 Southern Utah Univ. 299 296 309 904 +40
10 Air Force 300 295 311 906 +42
11 Weber State Univ. 294 311 306 911 +47
12 Utah State Univ. 306 304 303 913 +49
Fin. Name School Scores
1 Martin Laird Col. St. 67 69 73 209 -7
2 Shawn Wills Denver 70 70 71 211 -5
3 Greg Machtaler BYU 69 73 70 212 -4
Nolan Martin Col. St. 69 71 72 212 -4
Oscar Alvarez BYU 70 70 72 212 -4
6 Ian Hagen Nevada 73 70 71 214 -2
7 Luke Swilor Utah 68 74 73 215 -1
8 Geoff Nuwash Col. St. 74 73 69 216 E
9 Jimmy Cunningham Denver 71 71 75 217 +1
10 Mike DeBoard Boise St. 72 75 71 218 +2
Kenny Ebalo So. Utah 71 71 76 218 +2
12 James Beston Hawaii 72 76 71 219 +3
James Love Denver 72 74 73 219 +3
Ashdon Woods Utah 73 72 74 219 +3
15 Barrett Jarosch Denver 71 77 72 220 +4
Graham DeLaet Boise St. 73 73 74 220 +4
Kurt Kowaluk Wyoming 68 75 77 220 +4
Brett Tobyne Col. St. 73 75 72 220 +4
Garrett Clegg Utah 71 76 73 220 +4
Steve Newren Utah 73 72 75 220 +4
21 Brandon Daum Air Force 73 71 77 221 +5
*Devin Heid BYU 71 76 74 221 +5
23 Sprague Kolp Nevada 70 75 77 222 +6
Daniel Summerhays BYU 76 69 77 222 +6
Casey Watabu Nevada 73 70 79 222 +6
Tony Giarratano Denver 73 68 81 222 +6
Jason Ferrin Nevada 73 72 77 222 +6
28 Ivan Holmes Nevada 77 72 74 223 +7
Kellen-Floyd Asao Hawaii 72 76 75 223 +7
30 Jared Overton BYU 72 80 72 224 +8
*Christopher Graham BYU 73 75 76 224 +8
32 Adam Wasinger Air Force 76 75 74 225 +9
Marcus Myers Utah State 74 76 75 225 +9
Jeff Smith Boise St. 74 74 77 225 +9
Eric Baily Wyoming 76 71 78 225 +9
Ron Harvey, Jr. BYU 74 70 81 225 +9
Matt Williams Weber St. 73 77 75 225 +9
38 Phil Kalivas Utah State 76 75 75 226 +10
Barry Schenk Weber St. 73 78 75 226 +10
Casey Fowles Utah 71 71 84 226 +10
Matthew Brunk Wyoming 75 74 77 226 +10
42 Justin Kim Hawaii 75 76 76 227 +11
43 Matthew Kodama Hawaii 78 72 78 228 +12
Cody Huot Utah State 80 75 73 228 +12
Taylor Edwards So. Utah 76 76 76 228 +12
Brett Kleinkopf Boise St. 73 77 78 228 +12
47 Jake Sestero Boise St. 77 78 74 229 +13
*Clay Bingham BYU 74 77 78 229 +13
49 Tad Hunt So. Utah 73 77 80 230 +14
Jason Aichele Wyoming 74 81 75 230 +14
51 Landon Chang Air Force 76 73 82 231 +15
52 Nick Higham Weber St. 76 79 78 233 +17
John Hayes Col. St. 76 76 81 233 +17
Dan Silva Wyoming 75 77 81 233 +17
55 Blair Bingham Weber St. 75 81 78 234 +18
Zach Johnson So. Utah 79 72 83 234 +18
Robb Evans So. Utah 80 77 77 234 +18
Chris Leong Air Force 75 81 78 234 +18
59 Jaime Matsumura Hawaii 82 75 78 235 +19
60 Jason Blair Utah State 79 78 80 237 +21
61 Chris Combe Utah State 77 79 82 238 +22
*Chris Torgerson Weber St. 81 78 79 238 +22
63 Chris Marslender Air Force 81 76 82 239 +23
*John Buffalo Denver 80 76 83 239 +23