Cougars Finish Second at the Prestigious Ping Preview

Durham, N.C.--BYU's 19th-ranked men's golf team defeated top-ranked Clemson and placed second at the prestigious Ping Preview on Tuesday at the Duke University Golf Club.

"This is big," BYU head coach Bruce Brockbank said. "I'm really excited for our guys and how they played in tough conditions."

The Cougars jumped from eighth-place to second in the final round to finish four shots behind eventual champion No. 2-ranked Georgia.

Junior Manuel Merizalde led the Cougars shooting one-under-par for two rounds. Merizalde tied for third with 2000 U.S. Amateur Champion Jeff Quinney from Arizona State.

Senior Scott Miller, the only Miller brother on this year's squad, finished in eighth place at one-over-par tied with the nation's top-ranked golfer Luke Donald of Northwestern.

Jesse Hibler and Billy Harvey both finished at six-over-par helping the Cougars to this noteworthy finish. True freshman Chris Graham helped the Cougars challenge for the title by shooting a final round 76 in his first collegiate tournament.

The Cougars overcame very wet conditions and made adjustments to the course bermuda grass of the Southeastern U.S. to beat out 12 higher ranked opponents.

The Ping and Preview field includes 14 of the nation's top 20 teams including all ten of the top ten golf programs in the country. This is one of BYU's only appearances in the Ping Preview because it usually falls on a Sunday. But tournament managers changed it to a Monday-Tuesday format to allow BYU to compete.

TEAM RESULTS
Fin School               		Scores
   1 Georgia, U. of           287  296    583    +7
   2 Brigham Young Univ.      294  293    587   +11
   3 Clemson University       298  290    588   +12
T  4 Texas, Univ. of          296  294    590   +14
T  4 Northwestern             294  296    590   +14
T  4 Arizona, U. of           292  298    590   +14
T  4 Auburn University        288  302    590   +14
   8 Arizona State U.         290  303    593   +17
   9 North Carolina, U of     297  299    596   +20
  10 Duke University          299  298    597   +21
  11 Georgia Tech             300  298    598   +22
  12 Oklahoma State U.        296  303    599   +23
  13 UNLV                     293  309    602   +26
  14 Houston, Univ. of        302  303    605   +29
  15 Kent State               302  306    608   +32
  16 TCU                      308  304    612   +36
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
Fin  Name                  School      Scores
 1  Bryce Molder          GaTech       68  72 140   -4
 2  Kevin Haefner         Auburn       67  75 142   -2
T3  Manuel Merizalde      BYU          71  72 143   -1
T3  Jeff Quinney          ASU          71  72 143   -1
T5  Ryan Hybl             Georgia      70  74 144    E
T5  Reid Hatley           Arizona      70  74 144    E
T5  James Oh              UNLV         69  75 144    E
T8  Scott Miller          BYU          75  70 145   +1
T8  D.J. Trahan           Clemson      74  71 145   +1
T8  Matt Krauss           Duke         73  72 145   +1
T8  Andy Sanders          Houston      73  72 145   +1
T8  Adam Rubinson         TCU          73  72 145   +1
T8  Luke Donald           N'western    72  73 145   +1
OTHER BYU INDIVIDUAL FINISHES
T34 Jesse Hibler          BYU          75  75 150   +6
T34 Billy Harvey          BYU          73  77 150   +6
T71 Christopher Graham    BYU          82  76 158  +14