Cougars finish 15th at NCAA Championship

SUNRIVER -- After making a dramatic comeback on Friday, BYU earned its third consecutive top 15 finish Saturday at the 109th NCAA Men's Golf National Championship.

The Cougars started the day in 15th place and needed to go under par if they hoped to crack the top ten. After five holes the Cougars were already four-over-par. At the turn they were five over par and still in 15th place. After nine holes the Cougars started to make a little run and got their score down to three-over-par as they moved into 13th place. With three holes to play the Cougars were just one-over-par, but the final three holes proved to be deadly. On the last three holes the Cougars posted a triple and a double bogey as well as seven bogies to push their score to 10-over for the day.

After finishing in fourth place last season and ninth in 2004, the Cougars were a little disappointed with a 15th-place finish in 2006.

"Maybe we just ran out of gas today," BYU head coach Bruce Brockbank said. "I was excited to see us get back to one-over-par, but we just finished uncharacteristically. As excited as we were yesterday, it's tough to finish the way we did."

Playing in his final tournament as a Cougar, Oscar Alvarez went even par to finish five-over for the tournament and in 45th place. He was the low Cougar on Saturday, posting two birdies and two bogies. Having played in every tournament since he arrived at BYU in 2004, the All-American from Colombia will be sorely missed by the Cougars.

"Oscar has been a big part of our success the last three years." Brockbank said. "He's an impact player and we're really going to miss him. I can't say enough great things about this kid. He's had a great impact on college golf. He has represented BYU well and set a high standard for his teammates. The Colombian Golf Federation should be proud of the impact he has had on college golf."

Danny Summerhays and Jake Ellison were tied for 16th heading into Saturday's round. Both played well all day until the final three holes where they fell back to 76 and 75 respectively. Summerhays finished tied for 39th while Ellison ended in a tie for 32nd. Clay Ogden posted a 75 and finished in a tie for 70 while Nick Becker placed 78.

BYU finishes another solid season behind the leadership of Brockbank and assistant coach Todd Miller. BYU was ranked in the top 10 for most of the season and returns four out of its top five players next season.

"We've still got a lot of potential to be one of the top teams in the nation next season," Summerhays said. "I'm excited for the future."

BYU INDIVIDUAL SCORES
T32.   Jake Ellison       69-74-72-75--290  +2
T39.   Daniel Summerhays  73-73-69-76--291  +3
T45.   Oscar Alvarez      74-74-72-72--293  +5
T70.   Clay Ogden         77-76-71-75--299  +11
T78.   Nick Becker        77-76-76-78--307  +19
1    Oklahoma State      281-291-288-283--1143 -9 
2    Florida             284-285-298-279--1146 -6 
T3   Minnesota           287-286-292-282--1147 -5 
T3   Wake Forest         277-289-294-287--1147 -5 
5    Kentucky            283-287-300-283--1153 +1 
6    Georgia             293-286-290-287--1156 +4 
T7   Clemson             282-288-296-291--1157 +5 
T7   UCLA                280-294-296-287--1157 +5 
T9   Lamar University    292-283-290-293--1158 +6 
T9   Washington          281-282-294-301--1158 +6 
11   Arizona State       287-279-294-299--1159 +7 
12   Duke University     290-297-284-291--1162 +10 
13   Arizona             296-283-291-298--1168 +16 
14   Texas A&M           291-283-296-299--1169 +17 
15   Brigham Young       292-298-284-298--1172 +20 
15 OTHER TEAMS DID NOT QUALIFY FOR FINAL ROUND