TUCSON, Ariz. (Saturday, May 20, 2006) -- With little room for error, Clay Ogden led the No. 8 ranked BYU men's golf team to a sixth place finish at the NCAA West Regional and a third consecutive trip to the national tournament.
Ogden shot a team low five-under-par 67 on Friday, helping the Cougars move up five spots to the sixth position. The top ten finishing teams are invited to the NCAA National tournament.
"We had our backs against the wall to start today's round," Ogden said. "I can't remember the last time that I had butterflies during a tournament."
Nick Becker and Daniel Summerhays also had great rounds for the Cougars shooting three-under-par 69s respectively. Becker finished with three birdies and no bogeys on the back nine.
Head coach Bruce Brockbank said the way BYU played on the back nine was the difference on Saturday. "It just shows the character of our team," he said. "These guys never quit and they deserve to be in the national tournament."
Arizona and Florida tied for first place with an impressive team score of 37-under-par. They were followed by Arizona State and Washington who finished 24-under-par.
Billy Horschel of Florida and Casey Watabu from the University of Nevada tied for the individual title with a score of 13-under-par. Watabu shot a tournament low 64 for his final round on Saturday.
The Cougars have had experience and success at the Sunriver, Oregon course; the site of the national tournament. The Cougars played the MWC Championship tournament at the Crosswater Club last month where they finished fourth.
"It's definitely an advantage for us," assistant coach Todd Miller said. "We are very confident because of the familiarity with the course."
The championship tournament begins May 31st and runs through June 3rd. It features four rounds and will be covered live on golfstat.com.
BYU INDIVIDUAL SCORES
T11. Clay Ogden 72-69-67--208 -8
T38. Nick Becker 70-74-69--213 -3
T38. Jake Ellison 68-73-72--213 -3
T46. Daniel Summerhays 73-72-69--214 -2
T88. Oscar Alvarez 72-77-72--221 +5
TEAM SCORES
T1 Arizona 279-273-275--827 -37
T1 Florida 273-282-272--827 -37
T3 Arizona State U. 284-273-283--840 -24
T3 Washington 288-281-271--840 -24
5 North Carolina State 282-273-290--845 -19
T6 Brigham Young Univ. 282-288-277--847 -17
T6 Loyola Marymount U. 284-281-282--847 -17
8 East Tennessee St. 284-280-285--849 -15
T9 Pepperdine 283-287-281--851 -13
T9 Nevada, Univ. of 282-287-282--851 -13
11 New Mexico State U. 287-283-286--856 -8
T12 Fresno State 280-286-292--858 -6
T12 New Mexico 290-285-283--858 -6
T14 Alabama, U. of 289-292-279--860 -4
T14 Stanford University 283-290-287--860 -4
16 UC-Irvine 283-284-294--861 -3
T17 San Diego State 290-289-283--862 -2
T17 Houston, Univ. of 295-288-279--862 -2
19 Cal Poly 290-287-289--866 +2
20 Baylor 289-294-285--868 +4
21 Santa Clara Univ. 289-302-285--876 +12
T22 Louisville, U. of 290-302-288--880 +16
T22 Denver, U. of 293-296-291--880 +16
24 Western Kentucky U. 294-295-293--882 +18
25 San Diego, U. of 299-294-299--892 +28
26 Bucknell University 297-300-312--909 +45
27 Jackson State Univ. 314-299-297--910 +46