Cougar win big at John H. Burns Invitational

Thanks to strong final rounds by sophomores Todd Miller and Manuel Merizalde, BYU held on to beat a very competitive field by nine strokes to finish 34-under par at the John H. Burns Invitational in Honolulu, Hawaii.

"I'm so excited I can't see straight," head coach Bruce Brockbank said. "To beat some of these teams is just amazing. It really says a lot about our guys to start our spring out by beating some of the top teams in the country."

The eighth-ranked Cougars were led by BIlly Harvey (68-67-70-205) who finished second overall. The key to the BYU victory came down to the last five holes where Miller and Merizalde's birdies under pressure propelled the Cougars to victory. The victory is BYU's fourth of the season with seven tournaments left in the regular season. During the 1998-99 season BYU claimed three victories before finishing seventh at the national tournament.

Twenty-fourth ranked Arizona and fifth-ranked Oklahoma State tied for second nine strokes behind the Cougars.

"This was a great team effort," Brockbank said. "This victory comes down to team depth. Todd and Manuel held us in there today, but the other three played amazing as well. When we had to play, we played."

The Cougars travel next to Thousand Oaks, California to compete in the Southwestern International Tournament on Monday.

Billy Harvey-68-67-70-205 (-11)

Todd Miller-71-68-68-207 (-9)

Manuel Merizalde-71-70-69-210 (-6)

Andy Miller-68-69-74-211 (-5)

Jose Garrido-69-70-73 -212 (-4)

BYU-276-274-280 (-34)