Cougars Finish Second at Arizona Intercollegiate

TUCSON -- The No. 19 BYU men's golfers wrapped up play at the PING Arizona Intercollegiate tournament on Tuesday, finishing in second place (280-282-280), two strokes behind No. 4 New Mexico (289-280-271) and twelve strokes ahead of No. 15 Arizona State.

Sophomore Jake Ellison (third), senior Greg Machtaler (fifth) and junior Oscar Alvarez (19th) all placed in the top 20, making this the fourth time the Cougars have had three or more golfers finish in the top 20 this season. Senior Todd Miller finished up the tournament in 34th place while sophomore Nick Becker ended in 40th.

"I'm excited for the guys," BYU head coach Bruce Brockbank said. "They played well coming out of the cold and snow. There were some areas where we let some shots go, but overall I think we handled it well."

The Cougars started off a windy Tuesday in first place with four holes left in the second round. BYU finished the second round shooting two-under-par, dropping into a second-place tie with Tulsa. The Cougars came right back in the third round, shooting four-under to finish the tournament at 10-under-par.

Machtaler (69-70-70) and Ellison (69-71-65) helped the Cougars hold onto the second-place finish as both golfers played some of their best rounds of golf this season, despite a nearly three-month break from competition.

"It was a good first tournament back," Ellison said. "It was windy, but I managed my game with the wind really well. I was really trying to make pars, and when you're doing that, your putts begin to fall for birdies."

Ellison turned out a career-low 205 strokes and shot his second lowest career round (65) in the third round with seven birdies, ten pars and one bogie. Machtaler finished the tournament with his third-lowest total score (209) this season.

The Cougars have a three-week break before traveling to Hawaii for the John H. Burns Invitational on Feb. 23-25.

Arizona National - Par 71 - 6,793 yards
TEAM RESULTS
1.  New Mexico (No. 4)      -12 (289-280-271)
2.  BYU (No. 19)            -10 (280-282-280)
3.  Tulsa                   -1  (287-275-289)
4.  Arizona                 E   (284-276-292)
5.  Arizona State (No. 15)  +2  (285-288-281)
6.  Texas A&M               +9
7.  Arizona (B)             +10
8.  UC Irvine               +15
9.  New Mexico State        +17
10. UC Riverside            +21
11. Fresno State            +26
12. Colorado                +34
13. Oregon                  +35
14. California              +38
15. Texas El Paso           +47
16. Long Beach State        +55
BYU INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
3.   Jake Ellison           -8  (69-71-65)
T5.  Greg Machtaler         -4  (69-70-70)
T19. Oscar Alvarez          +2  (74-69-72)
T34. Todd Miller            +6  (68-72-79)
T40. Nick Becker            +7  (75-72-73)
T76. Clay Ogden*            +22 (82-75-78)
*playing as an individual