No. 5 BYU Men's Golf Team Prepares for MWC Championship Tournament

CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT

The inaugural Mountain West Conference Championships will be held May 1-3 at the PGA West Nicklaus Tournament Course in Palm Desert, California. No. 5 BYU is the top ranked team in the Mountain West Conference followed by No. 9 UNLV and No. 13 New Mexico. Also participating will be Colorado State, Utah, Air Force, Wyoming, and San Diego State.

TUNING UP FOR THE MWC TOURNAMENT

BYU tuned up for the Mountain West Conference Championships by winning the Ben Hogan Cougar Classic by 24 strokes on April 20-21. The Cougars finished 43-under-par shooting 273-273-275--821. Several Cougars set personal records during the tournament. Andy Miller's 201 and Manuel Merizalde's 202 were personal bests for a 54-hole tournament. Miller's final-round 63 was his lowest round as a Cougar and one stroke away from the course record at Riverside Country Club in Provo, Utah. Merizalde shot a personal best 66 in the first and second rounds of the Cougar Classic.

BYU'S WINNING WAYS

By winning last weekend's Ben Hogan Cougar Classic, BYU maintained its lead over the rest of the nation for the most tournament victories on the season. BYU has won six tournaments and one match play tournament for a total of seven victories on the season. BYU is currently ranked No. 5 in the GolfWeek poll and No. 8 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 averageon 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. Miller who was the 1996-97 WAC Champion as a freshman hopes to win a second conference championship

BYU'S TRIPLE THREAT

Competing in the inaugural Mountain West Championships for BYU will be Andy, Scott and Todd Miller all sons of former PGA great and current NBC golf announcer Johnny Miller. This unique triple-threat has been a major reason for No. 5 BYU's success this season. Each is ranked among the top 100 golfers in the NCAA and among the top 20 golfers in the Mountain West Conference.

1999-2000 Top Ten Finishes Top-20 Finishes

Andy Miller 7 8

Manuel Merizalde5 8

Scott Miller 3 4

Billy Harvey 2 6

Todd Miller 2 4

Jose Garrido 1 4

Master Card Individual Collegiate Golf Rankings

No. 10-Andy Miller

No. 36-Manuel Merizalde

No. 63-Billy Harvey

No. 64-Scott Miller

No. 79-Todd Miller

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 34 top-20 finishes on the season.

"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 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.

1999 WAC CHAMPIONSHIP

At last year's WAC Championships in Pebble Beach California freshman Manuel Merizalde led wire-to-wire to win medallist honors. BYU defeated No. 2 ranked UNLV to win its first conference championship since 1995. BYU's Andy Miller, Billy Harvey and Manuel Merizalde were named to the All-Conference team.

1999 WAC CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS

Jose Garrido 75-73-78--226/16th

Billy Harvey 69-83-83--235/49th

Manuel Merizalde69-70-74--213/1st

Andy Miller 76-72-72--220/4th

Scott Miller 72-75-76--223/7th

BYU'S STARTERS FOR 2000 MWC CHAMPIONSHIP

1. Andy Miller Sr.

2. Manuel Merizalde So.

3. Scott Miller Jr.

4. Todd Miller So.

5. Billy Harvey Jr.

Current Rankings 4/27/00

GOLFWEEK RANKINGS

1. Georgia Tech

2. Clemson

3. Oklahoma State

4. Georgia

5. Brigham Young

6. Arizona State

7. Houston

8. Northwestern

9. UNLV

10. Fresno State

11. Arizona

12. Auburn

13. New Mexico

14. North Carolina State

15. Duke

16. North Florida

17. Augusta State

18. Texas

19. South Carolina

20. Florida

MASTERCARD RANKINGS

1 Georgia Tech

2 Clemson

3 Georgia

4 Oklahoma State

5 Arizona State

6 Northwestern

7 Fresno State

8 Brigham Young

9 Houston

10 Arizona

11 Augusta State

12 UNLV

13 Florida

14 New Mexico

15 North Carolina State

16 Auburn

17 North Florida

18 Stanford

19 Kent

20 South Carolina

1999-2000 Season Results
Date		Tournament		Score    	Finish/Teams	Best Individual		Sep 21-23	Topy Cup	 	307-295-602		3rd/11	Merizalde													Garrido 	
Oct 1-2	Tucker Inv.	283-283-290-856		1st/18 	Merizalde	
Oct 11-12	Red River Cl.	281-282-279-842		6th/15	Todd Miller	Oct 15-16	Fresno Lexus Cl.342-347-345-1034	1st/16	A.Miller, 													Merizalde
Nov 8-9	Pacific Match Play	Match Play		1st/8	
Feb 23-26	John H. Burns	276-274-280-830		1st/17	Billy Harvey	Mar 28-29 	Southwestern 	288-283-291-862		2nd/14	Andy Miller	Mar 13-14 	S.Barbara Inv.	302-299-295--896	1st/19	Andy Miller	Mar 20-21 	M. Williams 	304-282-295--881	1st/15	Andy Miller	Apr 3-4	W. Intercol.	283-290-297-870		9th/20	Merizalde		Apr 15	BYU-Stanford Shootout	BYU-341 (-19) -Stanford-368 (+8)
Apr 21-22 	Cougar Classic	273-273-275-821		1st/15	Andy Miller	May 1-3	MWC Championships	
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
			34	2208		70.8	63	1st
Manuel Merizalde	Rds.	Strokes	Avg.	Low	Top finish	
				28	1995		71.3	66	2nd
Todd Miller	Rds.	Strokes	Avg.	Low	Top finish	
			26	1867		71.8 	64	4th
Billy Harvey	Rds.	Strokes	Avg.	Low	Top finish	
			34	2491		73.3	67	2nd
Scott Miller	Rds.	Strokes	Avg.	Low	Top finish
			23	1675		72.8 	67	3rd
Jose Garrido	Rds.	Strokes	Avg.	Low	Top finish
			28	2058		73.5	68	7th