Joseph Hovey | Posted: 27 Apr 2021 | Updated: 17 May 2021

Men's golf to compete at WCC Championship

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BYU men's golf

 

HENDERSON, Nev. – BYU men’s golf will compete for its 26th all-time conference title at the West Coast Conference Championship at Reflection Bay Golf Course on April 29-May 1.

The 54-hole tournament consists of one round of play each day Thursday-Saturday.

The Cougars will tee-off in the second wave off the first tee with Loyola Marymount and Santa Clara at 7:50 a.m. PDT on Thursday. Live stats from Reflection Bay Golf Course is available through Golfstat.

BYU is coming off back-to-back top-5 tournament finishes at the Western Intercollegiate on April 12-14 and the PING Cougar Classic on April 23-24.

Highlighting the team’s recent successes are two-straight first-place finishes from Carson Lundell. The junior from Alpine, Utah tied a season-low 54-hole score of 203 at last week’s Cougar Classic and is currently ranked No. 107 in Golfstat’s top-250 player poll.

Lundell, Kelton Hirsch, Cole Ponich, David Timmins and Keanu Akina comprise BYU’s WCC Tournament lineup.

Hirsch, a senior from Centerville, Utah, has made the Cougars’ lineup in eight of nine tournaments this season.

Ponich, a sophomore from Farmington, Utah posted his fourth top-15 finish of the season with a three-round score of 6-under 210 at the Cougar Classic.

While just a sophomore, Timmins is the only player to have joined Lundell in the lineup for all nine of the team’s tournaments this season.

Akina, a freshman from Kahuku, Hawaii, will compete with the team’s starting lineup for the third time in his first season as a Cougar.

BYU faces a challenging road to a conference title at the WCC Tournament. The Cougars will take-on one of the nation’s top teams in No. 7 Pepperdine. The Waves have won three tournaments this season including the Western Intercollegiate. Pepperdine boasts eight players currently ranked in the Golfstat top-250.

No. 28 San Francisco, who is one of hottest teams in the country, is also expected to contend for the title. The Dons clinched their fourth tournament win in six events this season with a victory at the Cougar Classic. Lundell tied with San Francisco’s Tim Widing for the Cougar Classic individual title, while BYU finished third as a team.

Since joining the WCC in 2011-12, the Cougars have won two WCC men’s golf championships in 2013-14 and 2016-17. Peter Kuest was the last player to win an individual title at BYU. Kuest was crowned the WCC’s individual champion with a three-round score of 11-under 70-67-68—205 in 2017.

 

BYU at the WCC Championship 

2019-20^ Not Played
2018-19 4th
2017-18 3rd
2016-17 1st
2015-16 3rd
2014-15 5th
2013-14 1st
2012-13 3rd
2011-12* 3rd

*Inaugural Season in the WCC

^Events Canceled due to pandemic

 

Preseason WCC Coaches Poll 

Team (First Place Votes) Points
Pepperdine (8) 64
San Francisco (1) 54
San Diego 49
St. Mary's 46
BYU 32
Loyola Marymount 29
Santa Clara 24
Pacific 15
Gonzaga 11