Cougars Take First at Tucker Invitational

Brigham Young University's men's golf team, bolstered by four players in the top-10 individuals, shot 856 (-8) to win the Tucker Invitational by 10 strokes over Southern California.

Fourth-place finisher Manuel Merizalde led BYU with a score of 214 while Billy Harvey, Scott Miller and Andy Miller all tied for fifth place at 215. BYU had an amazing 18-stroke lead going into the final three holes, but had three double-bogies to shorten the gap. BYU soundly defeated fellow top twenty-five schools UNLV, New Mexico, Texas, and TCU.

"Our kids played awesome," BYU head coach Bruce Brockbank said. "The wind was up, the pins were very difficult, but we ended up doing a great job and winning the tournament."

BYU won the Tucker for the 10th time in the tournament's 45-year history, but for the first time since 1986. Before the Cougar's impressive showing at the Tucker, they were ranked 11th by the MasterCard Collegiate Golf Rankings.

Team Results
 1 Brigham Young Univ.      283  283  290 856    -8
 2 Southern California      288  284  294 866    +2
 3 New Mexico, U. of        285  295  295 875   +11
   UNLV                     291  287  297 875   +11
 5 Oklahoma, U. of          289  293  298 880   +16
 6 Colorado State Univ.     294  293  294 881   +17
 7 Colorado, U. of          296  294  293 883   +19
 8 Arizona, U. of           300  297  288 885   +21
 9 Texas, Univ. of          297  287  305 889   +25
10 San Diego State U.       290  292  308 890   +26
11 Oregon State U.          298  300  293 891   +27
12 TCU                      299  298  298 895   +31
13 Swedish National         300  299  299 898   +34
14 New Mexico State U.      307  292  301 900   +36
   Air Force                305  297  298 900   +36
16 Texas El Paso, U. of     293  306  302 901   +37
17 San Francisco, U. of     297  299  313 909   +45
18 Hawaii, Univ. of         297  316  301 914   +50
19 Southern Methodist       304  311  302 917   +53
20 New Mexico JV            301  306  313 920   +56
Top 50 Individual Results
  1  Nigel Spence          Col. St.     70  68  70 208   -8
  2  Jeremy Anderson       UNLV         69  67  74 210   -6
  3  Scott Piercy          SanDiegoSt   70  69  74 213   -3
  4  Manuel Merizalde      BYU          74  71  69 214   -2
  5  Derek Gillespie       Arizona      74  72  69 215   -1
     Michael Kirk          UNLV         72  70  73 215   -1
     Nick Webb             USC          73  69  73 215   -1
     Scott Miller          BYU          69  71  75 215   -1
     Billy Harvey          BYU          68  74  73 215   -1
     Andy Miller           BYU          75  67  73 215   -1
     John Ray Leary        USC          71  70  74 215   -1
 12  Kevin Stadler         USC          74  72  70 216    E
     Par Nilsson           SWE          71  74  71 216    E
     John Lepak            Oregon St.   75  73  68 216    E
 15  Scott Hailes          New Mexico   70  75  72 217   +1
 16  Stephen Carroll       Colorado     71  71  76 218   +2
     Michael Letzig        New Mexico   70  74  74 218   +2
 18  Andy Doeden           TCU          74  73  73 220   +4
     Wil Collins           New Mexico   74  73  73 220   +4
     Matt Brost            Texas        73  71  76 220   +4
     Ben Leestma           Air Force    77  71  72 220   +4
     Kane Webber           Colorado     75  74  71 220   +4
     Cody Freeman          Oklahoma     72  73  75 220   +4
     Rob Kortan            New Mexico   71  73  76 220   +4
     Nick Jones            USC          70  73  77 220   +4
 26  Nicholas Loar         SMU          74  78  69 221   +5
     Jon Babich            N. Mex. St   77  69  75 221   +5
     Sal Spallone          TCU          72  76  73 221   +5
     Russell Surber        Texas        72  71  78 221   +5
     Ryan Donovan          SanDiegoSt   72  71  78 221   +5
     Ricky Barnes          Arizona      74  76  71 221   +5
    *Scott Moore           Arizona      74  74  73 221   +5
 33  Russ Nygard           Hawaii       73  79  70 222   +6
     Adrian Quintela       UTEP         71  78  73 222   +6
     Chris James           Oklahoma     72  74  76 222   +6
     Chris Cureton         Oklahoma     78  71  73 222   +6
    *John Kidwell          Oklahoma     73  73  76 222   +6
 38  Adam Scott            UNLV         74  75  74 223   +7
     Tim Mickelson         Oregon St.   73  74  76 223   +7
     Matthew Zions         Colorado     76  76  71 223   +7
 41  Scott Lieberwith      N. Mex. St   78  71  75 224   +8
     Jose Garrido          BYU          72  76  76 224   +8
     Robby Stephenson      Col. St.     75  77  72 224   +8
     Brandon Huffman       Texas        75  74  75 224   +8
     Jeff Scohy            Air Force    75  74  75 224   +8
     John Klauk            Texas        77  71  76 224   +8
     Aaron Hickman         TCU          76  70  78 224   +8
 48  Kevin Price           NMJV         77  71  77 225   +9
     Patrick Norris        Arizona      76  77  72 225   +9
     Kelsey Cline          Oklahoma     74  77  74 225   +9
     Kyle Hudson           Oregon St.   74  78  73 225   +9
                         *played as individual