Jones takes 7th as Cougars finish 10th in San Diego

CHULA VISTA, Calif. — No. 35 BYU men’s golf posted a 10th-place finish at the R.E.L. Lamkin Invitational at San Diego Country Club as the Cougars shot 298-294-292—884 for a 20-over total on Tuesday.

“This was a disappointing performance for us,” said BYU director of golf Todd Miller. “We were very confident coming into this event, after our last performance in Hawai’i, and we felt like we got some momentum to have a great spring.”

New Mexico (288-276-280—844) took home the team title after shooting 20-under to edge the host, No. 30 San Diego State (275-285-285—845), by a single shot. No. 34 Washington (288-284-285—857) and No. 20 Colorado State (285-282-290—857) finished tied for third at 7-under. UCLA was the final team to finish under par at 3-under to round out the top-5.

Zac Jones was the low finisher for the Cougars as he posted a bogey-free 66 in the final round to earn his second top-10 finish of the spring. Jones struggled out of the gate, shooting 75 in his opening round, but responded by going 8-under over the final 36 holes to finish tied for seventh with rounds of 75-70-66—211.

“Zac’s performance was a bright spot for us this week,” said Miller. “His 66 in the final round was virtually flawless and it tied the low round of the day. It’s very difficult to avoid bogies and doubles at SDCC which makes his round even more impressive. I’m really proud of the improvements he’s made in his game. There is no hint of giving up in that kid.”

Max Brenchley, who played as an individual, finished tied for 32nd at 4-over par after shooting 71-72-77—220. Carson Lundell shot 6-over-par with rounds of 74-73-75—222 to tie for 42nd.

David Timmins carded rounds of 75-75-74—224 to finish tied for 56th. Tyson Shelley finished with rounds of 74-77-77—228 while Keanu Akina rounded out the Cougars scoring with scores of 80-76-79—235.

“As a coach, I understand that we may be inconsistent coming out of the snow, but we didn’t do a good job with the small stuff this week,” said Miller. “Missing on the correct side of the hole, laying up in the fairway, keeping the ball under the hole and lag putting were some things we are looking to improve before we head to Stanford in a couple of weeks.”

The Cougars will return to action on March 30-April 1 as they tee it up at the Stanford Golf Course for The Goodwin.

Individual Leaderboard

Team Leaderboard (Top 5)

*15-Team Field