Cougars Win Fresno Lexus Classic By Big Margin

FRESNO, Calif., (Oct. 9, 2004)--The BYU men's golf team won the Fresno Lexus Classic by 20 strokes on Saturday.

The win marked the first time the Cougars have won a tournament since the Morris Williams Invitational in March. The Cougars led the tournament from beginning to end, something BYU Coach Bruce Brockbank said was important.

"We played consistent from the get-go," Brockbank said. "That's something we didn't do last week."

The trio of Greg Machtaler, Oscar Alvarez and Jake Ellison led the Cougars.

Machtaler won the tournament with a 14-under performance. The senior from Canada carded 15 birdies during the event and only three bogeys. His second-round 63 was a new career low.

"I'm happy for Greg," Brockbank said. "He's been real solid and consistent so far this year. Its just nice to see one of our guys win it."

Alvarez and Ellison finished just two strokes behind Machtaler in a tie for third place.

Alvarez also carded 15 birdies during the tournament. He also saved his best efforts for the last round as he tallied a 5-under 67, with six birdies on Saturday.

Ellison got off to a hot start, finishing the first day in second place overall. The St. George native played solid all tournament, carding only three bogeys in Fresno.

Senior Ron Harvey Jr. also deserves a lot of credit for the Cougars' success in the tournament. Harvey finished in the top-20 by stroking a 70-72-71--213.

"[Winning] was a real team effort," Brockbank said. "Everyone stayed consistent during the tournament."

Todd Miller and Clay Ogden also participated for the Cougars. Miller stroked a 5-over to finish at No. 46 and Ogden tallied a 7-over to finish at No. 57.

The Cougars have a couple of weeks off until they participate in the Aztec Invitational on Oct 25-26 in San Diego, Calif.

Fin. School                  Scores
1    Brigham Young Univ.     278-270-279--827 (-37)  
2    San Diego State         278-289-280--847 (-17)
3    UC Riverside            280-280-291--851 (-13)
4    Fresno State            281-283-288--852 (-12)
5    St. Mary's-Californ.    283-286-284--853 (-11)  
6    Colorado State Univ.    285-284-291--860  (-4)
7    Texas El Paso, U. of    292-281-289--862  (-2)
8    Long Beach State        290-290-283--863  (-1)
9    Nevada, Univ. of        285-289-292--866  (+2)
10   Louisiana-Monroe        281-289-298--868  (+4)
11   Denver, U. of           292-294-284--870  (+6)
T12  CSU-Bakersfield         290-286-300--876 (+12)  
T12  Idaho, Univ. of         292-291-293--876 (+12)
14   Boise State Univ.       295-291-296--882 (+18)
15   CSU-Northridge          294-294-300--888 (+24)
BYU Individual Results
Fin. Golfer           Scores
1    Greg Machtaler   70-63-69--202 (-14) 
T3   Oscar Alvarez    70-70-67--207 (-9) 
T3   Jake Ellison     68-67-72--207 (-9)
T16  Ron Harvey, Jr.  70-72-71--213 (-3)  
T47  Todd Miller      77-70-74--221 (+5) 
T57  Clay Ogden       73-73-77--223 (+7)