Fresno, Calif.--For the 25th time in the last 35 years BYU men's golf team earned an invitation to the NCAA Championships after placing second and achieving its highest regional finish ever at the NCAA West Regional in at Riverbend Golf Course in Fresno, Calif.
BYU, which led after the first and second rounds saw their lead slip after the front nine holes to a red-hot Arizona team. With three holes left to play, Arizona held a one-stroke lead over BYU.
"I knew it would come down to the last few holes and whoever putted best would win," BYU head coach Bruce Brockbank said.
The sixth-ranked Cougars, who putted well during the first two round, struggled with their short game down the stretch allowing the Arizona Wildcats to sneek out the surprise victory. The second place finish left BYU with a bitter taste in their mouth.
"The frustrating thing is, if we could have played just a little better we could have won this thing," senior Jose Garrido said.
Brockbank, although disappointed his Cougars didn't collect their NCAA-leading eighth victory on the season, was excited about his team's record-breaking performance.
"If you would have told me last week we would finish second at regionals, I would have been elated," Brockbank said. "But under the circumstances it's not quite as thrilling. I'm am excited about the effort we put forth. We had a great tournament and we're going to be ready for nationals."
Legendary Cougar golfer Johnny Miller, who was on hand to watch sons Scott Miller and Andy Miller play for BYU, was also very pleased with the Cougars' accomplishment.
"We are here to qualify for the national tournament," Johnny Miller said. "All the other stuff doesn't really matter. It's how we perform at nationals next week that really matters."
BYU, who was 19-under 557 after two rounds, fired a 2-under 286 the last day compared to Arizona's 7-under 281. Mountain West Champion UNLV cam back to tie BYU for second place followed by USC and New Mexico. The Mountain West Conference had three of the top five teams in the West along with individual champion Joel Hedry of New Mexico.
Individually, Junior Billy Harvey led BYU finishing 4-under 212 while Jose Garrido and Manuel Merizalde finished at 2-under 214. Team captain and three-time All-American Andy Miller came back from a dismal second round to shoot his second 68 of the tournament and finish at even par. Scott Miller shot a 72 final round to finish strong for BYU
BYU was one of ten teams from the west and 30 teams nationally to qualify for the NCAA Championships to be held May 31-June 3 at Grand National Golf Complex in Opelika, Alabama. Last year the Cougars finished seventh.
BYU's Individual Scorest18. Billy Harvey 69-70-73--212 (-4)
t29. Manuel Merizalde 67-72-75--214 (-2)
t29. Jose Garrido 72-69-73--214 (-2)
t38. Andy Miller 68-80-68--216 (E)
t74. Scott Miller 79-72-72--223 (+7)
1. Arizona 280-278-281--839
2. BYU 276-281-286--843
UNLV 283-281-279--843
4. USC 285-275-288--848
5. New Mexico 284-281-285--850
6. Fresno St. 281-279-291--851
Arizona St. 281-287-283--851
8. Washington 283-286-286--855
9. Pepperdine 297-286-281--864
Receiving the No. 1 seed from District VII, BYU's men's golf team gears up for its eighth consecutive NCAA West Regional to be held at the Riverbend Golf Course in Fresno, Calif. on May 18-20. The sixth-ranked Cougars placed third at last year's NCAA West Regional behind Arizona State and UNLV. The Cougars will be bringing its same five golfers (Andy Miller, Manuel Merizalde, Billy Harvey, Scott Miller and Jose Garrido) to Fresno wih hopes of improving upon last year's finish. The NCAA began regional play in 1988-89 and last year's third-place finish was the Cougars' highest finish ever.
At last year's NCAA West Regional in Tuscon, BYU had three top-ten finishers. Billy Harvey led the Cougars with a fourth-place finish while Jose Garrido and Andy Miller tied for eighth place. The Cougars shot 288-289-287-864 to finish even in the three-round tournament. BYU earned the top spot in District VII followed by No. 10 Fresno State and No. 12 New Mexico. In the other district in the NCAA West Region, No. 5 Arizona State received the top seed followed by No. 8 UNLV and No. 13 Arizona.
NCAA WEST REGIONAL 2000 PARTICIPANTS
District VII -- Brigham Young (6), Fresno State (10), New Mexico (12), Colorado State (50), San Diego State (45), Texas-El Paso (67). INDIVIDUALS: David Hern, Wyoming; Ryan Ellis, Utah.
District VIII -- Arizona State (5), UNLV (8), Arizona (13), Oregon (31), Oregon State (30), California (40), Stanford (24), UCLA (27), Washington (23), Pepperdine (43), Southern Cal (37), Long Beach St. (70). INDIVIDUAL: Ryan Earl, Portland.
At Large -- Pacific (63), California State-Northridge (109), Idaho (142), Princeton (156), Wright State (179), Navy (183), Towson Univedrsity (221), Iona (217), Maryland-Baltimore County (234). INDIVIDUALS: Ryan Nelson, Portland; Ray Otis, Nevada; Scott Lieberwirth, New Mexico State.
BYU's Winning Ways
With it's six tournament victories and one match play tournament victory, BYU has more tournament wins than any other schoo in the country. BYU won the William H. Tucker Invitational and Fresno Lexus Classic in October and the Pacific Match Play Tournament in November. BYU started its spring season by winning the John H. Burns Invitational in Hawaii and also won the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate in March. The Cougars picked up their fifth and sixth victories at the Morris Williams Invitational in Dallas and the Ben Hogan Cougar Classic in Provo. BYU is currently ranked No. 6 in the GolfWeek poll and No. 9 in the MasterCard poll.
Mr. Captain
Senior Captain and three-time All-American Andy Miller continues to lead the Cougars in almost every statistical category. Miller collected BYU's first individual victory of the season by beating teammate Manuel Merizalde at last weekend's Ben Hogan Cougar Classic. Miller shot a sizzling third-round 63 to come from six strokes behind to win his final home tournament as a Cougar. Miller was also named the McLeodUSA Mountain West Conference Player of the Week and finished with the conference's lowest stroke average on the season. This was the second time Miller has recieved this honor this season. Miller is currently ranked No. 10 among NCAA men's golfers. Andy is also the No. 1 ranked golfer in District VII in the MasterCard Collegiate Golf Rankings.
"In my mind, Andy is the best collegiate golfer in the nation," BYU head coach Bruce Brockbank said. "He is the total package. Academically, athletically, he gives everything he's got every day. He does his best because that's who he is. Any coach or any team in America would love to have an Andy Miller and we feel privileged to have had him four years."
BYU's Ace Card--Depth
Another huge reason for BYU's success this season has been the outstanding depth. Among BYU's top six golfers, the Cougars have collected 38 top-20 finishes on the season. Among BYU's top six golfers are three sons of former PGA great and current NBC golf analyst Johnny Miller. All three brothers, Andy, Scott and Todd, have made significant contributions to the success of this year's squad.
"From one through six we are as good as anybody in the country," BYU head coach Bruce Brockbank said. "These guys compete hard and there is no complacency on this team because everyone is fighting to get into that top five. Even among our top five, everyone of them feels they should win every tournament they play in. They all want to win and that's makes for some tough competition among the team."
In the Ben Hogan Cougar Classic on April 21-22 the Cougars finished first second and third. Andy Miller finished first, Manuel Merizalde second and Scott Miller third.
"When your sixth man (Scott Miller) can shoot low enough scores to be in third place, you know we've got depth," Brockbank said. "I don't have to motivate these guys. That's the beautiful thing about depth."
BYU's Starters for 2000 NCAA West Regionals1. Andy Miller Sr.
2. Manuel Merizalde So.
3. Billy Harvey Jr.
4. Scott Miller Jr.
5. Jose Garrido Sr.
BYU and the NCAA's
If the Cougars advance to the NCAA National Championships at Grand National Golf Course in Alabama on May 31-June 3 it will be their 25th appearance in the last 35 years. During that time, BYU has finished in the top five 13 times including 10 straight times from 1973-82. Led by All-Americans Keith Clearwater, Dick Zokol and Barry Willardson, the Cougars won the 1981 NCAA Golf Championships. BYU placed seventh at last year's Championships at Hazeltine National in Chaska, Minn.
1999 West Regional Results
Qualified for NCAA Nationals
1. Arizona State 283-288-283--854
2. UNLV 288-289-285--862
3. Brigham Young 288-289-287--864
4. California 301-284-286--871
5. Oregon 297-285-293--875
6. San Diego State 293-295-287--875
7. Washington 291-299-293--883
8. Colorado State 296-293-297--886
9. Arizona 301-294-296--891
Failed to Qualify
10. Pepperdine 298-296-299--893
11. UCLA 296-304-293--893
12. Fresno State 290-305-299--894
13. UTEP 301-303-293--895
14. Oregon State 295-310-295--900
15. Stanford 301-297-304--902
16. New Mexico 299-305-301--905
17. USC 304-297-305--906
18. UC Santa Barbara309-311-308--928
BYU Individual Scores
t4 Billy Harvey 71-70-72--213
t8 Jose Garrido 68-75-73--216
t8 Andy Miller 73-72-71--216
t20 Manuel Merizalde 76-72-72--220
t80 Scott Miller 83-78-72--233
GOLFWEEK RANKINGS 5/15/00
1. Georgia Tech
2. Clemson
3. Oklahoma State
4. Georgia
5. Arizona State
6. Brigham Young
7. Houston
8. UNLV
9. Northwestern
10. Fresno State
11. Auburn
12. New Mexico
13. Arizona
14. North Carolina State
15. Duke
16. North Florida
17. Augusta State
18. Texas
19. South Carolina
20. Florida
MASTERCARD RANKINGS 5/10/00
1 Georgia Tech
2 Clemson
3 Oklahoma State
4 Georgia
5 Arizona State
6 Fresno State
7 Northwestern
8 Arizona
9 Brigham Young
10 Houston
11 UNLV
12 Augusta State
13 New Mexico
14 North Carolina State
15 North Florida
16 Florida
17 Stanford
18 Auburn
19 Oregon
20 Kent State
1999-2000 Season Results
Date Tournament Score Finish/Teams
Sep 21-23 Topy Cup 307-295--602 3rd/11 Oct 1-2 William H. Tucker 283-283-290--856 1st/18
Oct 11-12 Red River Classic 281-282-279--842 6th/15
Oct 15-16 Fresno Lexus Cl. 342-347-345-1034 1st/16
Nov 8-9 Pacific Match Play Match Play 1st/8
Feb 23-26 John H. Burns Invit. 276-274-280--830 1st/17 Mar 28-29 Southwestern Inv.. 288-283-291--862 2nd/14 Mar 13-14 Pacific Coast Inv. 302-299-295--896 1st/19 Mar 20-21 Morris Williams 304-282-295--881 1st/15 Apr 3-4 W. Intercollegiate 283-290-297--870 9th/20
Apr 15 BYU-Stanford Shootout BYU-341 (-19) --Stanford-368 (+8)
Apr 21-22 Cougar Classic 273-273-275--821 1st/15
May 1-3 MWC Championships 296-280-301--877 5th/8
May 18-20 NCAA W Regional
May 31-Jun 3 NCAA Championship
BYU's Individual Results 1999-2000
Andy Miller Rds. Strokes Avg. Low Top finish
37 2629 71.05 63 1st
Manuel Merizalde Rds. Strokes Avg. Low Top finish
31 2213 71.39 66 2nd
Todd Miller Rds. Strokes Avg. Low Top finish
29 2098 72.34 64 4th
Scott Miller Rds. Strokes Avg. Low Top finish
26 1897 72.96 67 3rd
Billy Harvey Rds. Strokes Avg. Low Top finish
37 2711 73.27 67 2nd
Jose Garrido Rds. Strokes Avg. Low Top finish
28 2058 73.5 68 7th
1999-2000 Top Ten Finishes Top-20 Finishes
Andy Miller 7 9
Manuel Merizalde 5 9
Scott Miller 3 5
Billy Harvey 2 7
Todd Miller 2 4
Jose Garrido 1 4
Master Card Individual Collegiate Golf Rankings
No. 10-Andy Miller
No. 34-Manuel Merizalde
No. 67-Billy Harvey
No. 74-Scott Miller
No. 84-Todd Miller
