TEMPE -- The 17th-ranked BYU men's golf team made a run at one of the coveted ten spots of the NCAA West Regional on Saturday but came up short, just two shots from moving on.
The Cougars struggled to get into rhythm the first two rounds of the tournament. The story seemed to be different at the beginning of the third round; they knew they had one last shot of making it to the finals, and their determination showed. After the front nine, all five Cougars shot either par or better and as a team they were nine under par for the day. By hole fifteen they were 15 under par and in the top ten of the field. With only three holes to go, the Cougars' 28-under-par total placed them in ninth place and heading to the finals. Unfortunately a couple of miss-hit shots led them to a couple of triple bogeys and a disappointing finish, just outside of the cut.
"The guys made a good run at it, but unfortunately didn't finish it off," said head coach Bruce Brockbank, "They played their hearts out and at the end just came up a little bit short."
BYU's Daniel Summerhays finished with a 9-under-par 63 and thanks to back-to-back birdies was able to finish tied for fifth and individually qualify for the 2007 NCAA National Championship in Williamsburg, Virginia. The two best individuals in teams other than the first eight qualifying teams earn their way to the finals as inividual competitors.
"I hit the ball well and made good putts," said Summerhays, "It is definitely a bittersweet feeling. I wish my team could go with me to nationals."
This is the first time the BYU men's golf team misses a national championship since the 2003-2004 season. Since then the team has made it to the finals three years in a row, where they have finished 9th in 2004, 4th in 2005 and 15th in 2006.
Second for the Cougars was senior Clay Ogden, who finished with a one-under-par 71 and an eight-under-par 208 total to finish tied for 30th. Freshman Robbie Fillmore finished with an even-par 72 and a tie for 76th. Senior Jake Ellison finished tied for 97th while fellow senior Nick Becker finished tied for 111th.
"Naturally we have a bitter taste in our mouths. It's hard to feel like we could win a national championship and then not even get a shot at it," said Brockbank, "However, this is one of the finest group of guys in the country and our seniors will always remember their successful careers at BYU."
TEAM RESULTS
1 South Carolina 273-269-278--820 -44
2 UCLA 268-273-281--822 -42
T3 Southern California 277-273-274--824 -40
T3 Arizona State 275-275-274--824 -40
5 Vanderbilt 283-276-267--826 -38
6 Arizona 282-275-271--828 -36
7 Stanford 277-280-274--831 -33
8 New Mexico 275-282-276--833 -31
T9 Wake Forest 285-277-277--839 -25
T9 East Tennessee St. 278-277-284--839 -25
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The top 10 teams advance to the Championship
(Ties were resolved)
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T9 Oregon State 281-275-283--839 -25
T12 Brigham Young 283-280-278--841 -23
T12 Pepperdine 277-285-279--841 -23
14 Washington 284-271-287--842 -22
15 California 280-282-281--843 -21
T16 Colorado State 284-284-276--844 -20
T16 UNLV 281-281-282--844 -20
18 Augusta State 284-285-278--847 -17
19 Oregon 292-281-284--857 -7
20 Nevada 289-286-286--861 -3
21 Denver 285-290-287--862 -2
22 UC Irvine 289-288-286--863 -1
23 Pennsylvania 288-293-284--865 +1
24 San Diego State 296-289-299--884 +20
25 Detroit 297-297-293--887 +23
26 Bucknell University 299-299-295--893 +29
27 Monmouth University 302-295-311--908 +44
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
T5 Daniel Summerhays 72-67-63--202 -14
T30 Clay Ogden 71-66-71--208 -8
T76 Robbie Fillmore 68-75-72--215 -1
T97 Jake Ellison 72-72-75--219 +3
T111 Nick Becker 75-75-72--222 +6