No. 5 Cougars Just Miss Victory in Hawaii

SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii -- The men's golf team missed a third straight tournament victory by one stroke in Hawaii on Friday.

"We felt like we were the best team in the field and should win the tournament, but we didn't give it away, they just played one shot better. Forty-under-par is a great score anytime, anywhere. Unfortunately for us SMU played really, really well today," Head Coach Bruce Brockbank said.

No. 5 BYU was setting the pace during the second round with a 19-under-par score. Putting themselves in position to win after the first day, the Cougars played better than co-leader Auburn, but SMU snuck up from behind to secure the win. All American Oscar Alvarez led the Cougars with another All American, Jake Ellison, following one stroke behind. Alvarez and Ellison were tied throughout the tournament, with Ellison falling one stoke behind in the third round. Alvarez finished the tournament with a 12-under-par score of 204. No. 16 in the nation Ellison earned his 5th consecutive top 10 individual finish.

"I'm hitting the ball really well right now. It's a lot more fun when putts are falling and I'm hitting a lot of greens and fairways," Alvarez said.

Nick Becker and Clay Ogden also played well, with Becker finishing 7-under-par and tied for 21st and Ogden 6-under-par and tied for 25th. Daniel Summerhays finished the tournament 3-under-par and tied for 42nd place.

BYU will fly directly to Los Angeles to compete in the challenging Ashworth Invitational hosted by USC at the North Ranch Country Club. They will be competing against No. 4 UCLA, No. 11 Tennessee, No. 19 Washington, No. 22 USC, No. 23 San Diego State, No. 28 Pepperdine, and No. 33 Coastal Carolina.

In regard to the Ashworth Invitational, Assistant Coach Todd Miller said "It will be a great challenge for our team, but I like our chances. We just need to get some good rest the next day and a half and we should be fine."

BYU INDIVIDUAL SCORES

T 5 Oscar Alvarez 70-65-69--204 (-12)

T 7 Jake Ellison 70-65-70--205 (-11)

T 21 Nick Becker 71-70-68--209 (-7)

T 25 Clay Ogden 67-69-74--210 (-6)

T 42 Daniel Summerhays 73-70-70--213 (-3)

T 69 Nick Killpack* 77-69-71--217 (+1)

T 84 Greg Hunt* 72-74-75--221 (+5)

*individual participants

TEAM STANDINGS

1 SMU 279 271 273-823 -41

2 Brigham Young Univ. 278 269 277-824 -40

3 New Mexico, U. of 279 276 275-830 -34

4 San Diego State U. 279 275 277-831 -33

5 Colorado State Univ. 277 277 278-832 -32

6 Arizona 275 279 279-833 -31

7 Auburn University 273 274 287-834 -30

8 Nevada 286 270 282-838 -26

9 Texas A&M University 280 275 286-841 -23

10 Denver 285 275 282-842 -22

11 UNLV 282 278 284-844 -20

12 Long Beach State 277 282 286-845 -19

13 Texas El Paso 284 281 284-849 -15

14 California 289 282 285-856 -8

15 San Diego, U. of 291 286 283-860 -4

16 San Jose State 281 292 289-862 -2

17 Hawaii, Univ. of 290 282 291-863 -1

18 UC-Santa Barbara 293 291 291-875 +11

18 Utah 292 287 296-875 +11