Heid Helps Cougars Gain Momentum at Thunderbird Invitational

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Sophomore Devin Heid's final round 67 helped lift the Cougars to an eighth-place finish at the ASU Thunderbird/SAVANNE Invitational on Saturday.

Heid made six consecutive birdies on the back nine of the final round giving him his second 67 of the tournament. The Sophomore from Fallbrook, Calif. carded a career best eight-under par 208 (67-74-67) for a seventh-place individual finish.

"I was just hoping to contribute to the team and play consistent golf," Heid said. "After settling down and playing consistent golf, I was lucky enough to help our team out."

In only his second tournament of the season for BYU, Heid seized the opportunity to earn his first top-ten finish for the Cougars against a very talented and highly-ranked field.

The Cougars shot their best 54-hole total of the season (14-under-par) finishing two shots behind sixth-ranked Oklahoma State. No. 7 Texas earned the team championshiop shooting a sizzling 32-under-par. The Cougars once again defeated a number of ranked opponents including No. 17 Oklahoma, No. 11 Washington, No. 22 New Mexico and No. 9 USC.

"This team has made tremendous improvements this year," BYU head coach Bruce Brockbank said. "It's exciting to see our young players playing well. Shooting 14-under-par is a great accomplishment and I think this was the best tournament of the season for our team. We're really starting to build confidence as we head down the final stretch of the season."

Greg Machtaler, who was in fifth place after the first day thanks to a second-round 64, shot a final round 76 to finish six-under-par (70-64-76--210). Machtaler finished 14th individually a new career best for the true freshman from British Colombia.

"The play of Devin Heid and Greg Machtaler was the real highlight of this tournament," Brockbank said. "These two young men really stepped it up for us."

Senior Manuel Merizalde also was a factor in BYU success as he finished two-under par (70-72-72--214).

The Cougars now gear up to host the Cougar Classic at Riverside Country Club on Friday and Saturday April 19-20.

"I'm interested in seeing how our team responds this next weekend at the Cougar Classic. We've had some momentum as of late and I hope we can continue in that direction."

TEAM RESULTS
1   Texas, Univ. of          271  276  285    832       -32
2   Arizona State U.         279  279  280    838       -26
3   Pepperdine Univ.         287  275  277    839       -25
4   Oregon, U. of            283  280  280    843       -21
5   Arizona, U. of           282  281  282    845       -19
    TCU                      283  282  280    845       -19
7   Oklahoma State U.        285  276  287    848       -16
8   Brigham Young Univ.      279  287  284    850       -14
9   UCLA                     287  283  282    852       -12
10   New Mexico, U. of        281  280  292    853       -11
11   Southern California      280  287  287    854       -10
12   Oklahoma, U. of          290  281  285    856        -8
13   Stanford University      291  290  285    866        +2
14   Washington, U. of        296  285  288    869        +5
15   Arizona State Maroon     283  290  299    872        +8
16   Houston, Univ. of        299  293  294    886       +22
BYU INDIVIDUAL SCORES
T  7    Devin Heid               67   74   67    208
T 14    Greg Machtaler           70   64   76    210
T 31    Manuel Merizalde         70   72   72    214
T 68    Kyle Wight               72   77   73    222
T 68    Ron Harvey, Jr.          72   78   72    222
    Fin.    Top 20 Players         School       Scores
      1    Bret Guetz             TCU           68   65   67   200
      2    John Klauk             Texas         67   66   70   203
      3    Chris Carnahan         Oregon        68   64   73   205
      4    Randy Creighton        Pepperdine    73   67   67   207
           Par Nilsson            Okla. St.     70   65   72   207
           Pat Moore              Arizona St    67   64   76   207
      7    Scott Hailes           New Mexico    68   66   74   208
           Jim Seki               Stanford      70   70   68   208
           Devin Heid             BYU           67   74   67   208
     10    Ricky Barnes           Arizona       70   69   70   209
           Cody Freeman           Oklahoma      70   68   71   209
           J.J. Wall              Texas         68   70   71   209
           David Oh               USC           69   71   69   209
     14    John Merrick           UCLA          71   69   70   210
           Jason Allred           Pepperdine    73   66   71   210
           Jesse Mueller          Arizona St    69   70   71   210
           Greg Machtaler         BYU           70   64   76   210
           Steve Conway           UCLA          72   68   70   210
     19    Aaron Byers            Oregon        71   72   68   211
           Tyler Erickson         ASU Maroon    71   71   69   211
           Chris Nallen           Arizona       70   70   71   211
           Brady Stockton         Arizona St    71   73   67   211
           Michael Putnam         Pepperdine    69   71   71   211