ALBUQUERQUE -- In their first tournament of the 2003-04 season, the BYU men's golf team finished third at the 48th annual William H. Tucker Invitational Saturday.

BYU bounced back from yesterdays second round 299 and shot the low score of the day with a 286. BYU finished the tournament behind last year's NCAA sixth place finisher Arizona State and 24th place host New Mexico.

"Everyone came back really well today," head golf coach Bruce Brockbank said. "We played consistent, made birdies when we should have, and got up and down when we needed it."

Junior Todd Miller led the way for the Cougars with a 71-74-72--217 (+1), just shy of a top-10 finish.

"I didn't hit it really good this week," Miller said. "I hit it poorly for me, but I shot some decent scores, so I'm excited that I can hit it kind of bad and still shoot some decent scores."

Junior Greg Machtaler (74-74-72--220) and freshman Jake Ellison (70-76-74--220) both barely missed top-20 finishes as they tied for 23rd place (+4). Ron Harvey Jr. earned a top-30 finish 75-76-70--221 (+5) and Oscar Alvarez tied for 46th place (77-75-72--224).

"We had everyone in the game coming down to the last three or four holes," Brockbank said. "It makes a big difference when you have five guys who are all consistent down the stretch."

The men's golf team will have time to practice and rest up before competing again Sept. 29-30 at the Husky Invitational in Seattle, Wash.

3    BYU             290-299-286--875   
T11  Todd Miller     71-74-72--217
T23  Greg Machtaler  74-74-72--220 
T23  Jake Ellison    70-76-74--220
T30  Ron Harvey Jr.  75-76-70--221 
T46  Oscar Alvarez   77-75-72--224
  
Top 20 Teams
1. Arizona State U.     282-286-297--865 
2. New Mexico, U.       291-287-289--867 
3. Brigham Young Univ.  290-299-286--875 
4. Texas Tech Univ.     289-290-303--882 
5. Texas A&M Univ.      290-298-295--883
6. UNLV                 297-289-298--884
7. Toledo, U.           296-293-297--886 
8. Arizona, U.          303-292-293--888 
9. San Diego State U.   293-295-300--888
10.Pepperdine Univ.     295-297-298--890
11.Texas El Paso, U.    296-303-293--892 
12.North Carolina State 304-302-287--893 
13.New Mexico JV        299-294-301--894
14.Stanford University  288-300-307--895 
15.Colorado, U.         297-304-298--899 
16.New Mexico State U.  298-307-298--903
17.Baylor University    303-295-305--903
18.Colorado State Univ  294-302-308--904
19.Hawaii, Univ. of     305-303-306--914
20.Air Force            305-308-312--925
Indiv. Top 20  
1. Ian Medlocky         UNM JV           72-69-70--211
2. Matthew Kodamay      Hawaii           68-69-76--213
3. William Haddrelly    Texas Techy      70-67-77--214
4. Fernando Mechereffey NC State         73-73-69--215
5. Ben Flam             Arizona St       70-73-72--215
6. Andrew Parry         Texas A&M        73-72-70--215
7. Madalitso Muthiya    New Mexico       70-71-74--215
8. Alejandro Canizares  Arizona St       67-72-77--216
9. Will Doughtie        Baylor           74-70-72--216
10.Jay Reynolds         New Mexico       73-71-72--216
11.Todd Miller          BYU              71-74-72--217
12.Chris Baryla         UTEP             73-71-73--217
13.Oscar Floren         Texas Tech       72-73-72--217
14.Doug Batt            Toledo           74-72-71--217
15.David Tasker         Texas A&M        69-78-71--218
16.Nick Juszczak        Arizona          70-74-74--218
17.Jay Choi             New Mexico       74-73-72--219
18.Kane Webber          Colorado St      71-76-72--219
19.Aaron Choi           SanDiego St      74-72-73--219
20.Brad Heaven          Toledo           71-72-76--219
21.Chris Nallen         Arizona          75-71-73--219
Charlie Beljan          New Mexico       76-72-71--219