SUNRIVER -- BYU men's golf will compete at the Mountain West Conference golf tournament Thursday through Saturday at the Sunriver Golf Resort in Sunriver, Oregon.
Coming off a second-place finish at the PING Cougar Classic, BYU faces stiff competition against seventh-ranked UNLV, No. 18 New Mexico and No. 32 San Diego State. The Cougars enter the 2003 Mountain West Conference Championship ranked No. 42 and are led by freshman Daniel Summerhays (71.6 stroke average) and sophomore Greg Machtaler (71.7 stroke average). Combined, this duo has 13 top 20 finishes on the season. Another key contributor will be freshman Oscar Alvarez, who finished tied for third at last weekend's Cougar Classic. Alvarez, who joined the team in January has improved with every tournament this spring and looks poised for continued success.
The Cougars are hoping for a solid showing at the Championships in order to solidify an invitation to the NCAA West Regional. Last season BYU finished third at the MWC Championships behind UNLV and New Mexico. The Cougars have earned 22 conference titles including MWC titles in 1999 and 2001.
"Now's the time for our guys to show what they are made of," BYU head coach Bruce Brockbank said. "It's important for us to play well and hopefully we'll bring home another conference championship in the process."
The 2003 Mountain West Conference Men's Golf Championship will be hosted by Sunriver Resort in Sunriver, Ore, May 1-3. The 54-hole tournament will be played on the Crosswater Course (6,180 Yards/Par 72). Honored by Golf Digest as one of "America's 100 Greatest Courses," 1999-2000, Crosswater was designed by award-winning architect Bob Cupp.
Situated on 600 magnificently scenic acres of woodlands and carefully preserved wetlands, Crosswater is threaded by the gently flowing Deschutes and Little Deschutes Rivers. In fact, depending on tee selection the rivers can come into play as often as seven times in a round. The design is traditional heathland style, and the golf course features five tee placements for each hole as well as bent grass fairways and greens.
The eight MWC teams will play 18 holes each day with the low four scores out of five players counting for the team score. Play begins Thursday at 9:30 a.m. PST.