BYU men's golf team kicks off 2003-04 season

PROVO, Utah - The BYU men's golf team will kick off their 2003-04 season on Sept. 12-13 at the 48th annual William H. Tucker Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M.

The University of New Mexico will host the tournament on its Championship Golf Course, which measures 7,354 yards with a par of 72.

The field will be competitive as the Cougars will compete against 20 other teams, six of which placed in the 2003 NCAA Championships: Arizona State (6th), UNLV (13th), North Carolina State (15th), Arizona (17th), New Mexico (24th) and San Diego State (28th).

"It's a great field with a lot of big teams," assistant coach Kyle Wight said. "It's one of the better tournaments we play in for the year."

The Cougars will take their top finishers to compete this weekend, including juniors Todd Miller, Greg Machtaler and Ron Harvey Jr., sophomore Oscar Alverez and freshman Georgia Tech transfer Jake Ellison.

"This is will be a good measuring point for us," head coach Bruce Brockbank said. "We have some golfers coming off missions, so it will be exciting to see how they do."

Miller and Ellison are both returning from missions. Miller was a regular starter his freshman and sophomore years and is looking to take over from where he left off. Georgia Tech transfer Ellison is a new face for the Cougar squad and will add depth and talent to the team.

Individually Machtaler is coming off a great season being named All-MWC First Team and also had a team-best stroke average of 71.9. Alverez, who joined the team in January of 2003, and Harvey were also significant leaders last season and will provide experience and leadership.

The Cougars will begin play of 36 holes Friday with a shotgun start at 7:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday the team will continue play in the final 18 holes with tee times starting at 7:30 a.m.