AUBURN -- The BYU men's golf team ended its season with a 20th place finish at the 2003 NCAA West Regional on Saturday at Washington National golf course.
In rainy and wet conditions the young Cougar squad failed to advance to the NCAA Championships for the third consecutive season after posting a final-round 300. After placing second in the MWC championship tournament, the Cougars never got their game on track after a first-round rain delay on Thursday.
"It's a little frustrating for all of us when we aren't playing our best golf when we need to play our best golf," BYU head coach Bruce Brockbank said. "We played really well at times, but mistakes just killed us on a tough course against a tough field."
Freshman Daniel Summerhays was the low Cougar on the final day as he went one-under to finish tied for 92nd. Greg Machtaler's bid for one of the individual invitation to the NCAA Championships fell short as he shot a final-round 76. Machtaler, who was tied for 12th heading into Saturday, finished in 32nd place overall. Freshman Oscar Alvarez was three-over on the final day and finished in a tie for 70th place.
Three Mountain West Conference were among the top 10 teams advancing along with champion UCLA. UNLV finished third while MWC champion New Mexico finished fifth and San Diego State finished in a tie for ninth.
Despite a tough finish, the future looks bright for the Cougars as sophomores Ron Harvey Jr. and Machtaler and freshman Alvarez will return next fall to form a solid, experienced nucleus. The Cougars will lose senior Jared Overton to graduation, while Daniel Summerhays plans to serve an LDS Church mission for the next two seasons. But the Cougars will benefit from the return of Todd Miller, who returned in November from his LDS mission. They will also have the addition of Summerhays' highly touted high school teammate Clay Ogden to help strengthen next year's talented squad.
BYU's Individual Scores
T12th Greg Machtaler 76-69-76--221
T70th Oscar Alvarez 77-75-75--227
T92nd Daniel Summerhays 84-76-71--231
T122nd Ron Harvey Jr. 80-82-78--240
T125th Jared Overton 84-79-80--243