With sophomore Joe Parkinson leading the way, the BYU men’s golf team tied for fifth place in the 15-team Husky Invitational earlier this week in Bremerton, Wash.
Parkinson tied for second place with a 5-under-par 211 in the 54-hole tournament. It was the Cougar’s opening tournament of the season and showed some good things could be in store. Head coach Bruce Brockbank sees even better play on the horizon.
“To finish fifth place is respectable, but we’re better than that,” Brockbank said.
Tournament host Washington finished first at 17-under-par. Runner-up Arizona State was Washington’s closest competition at 1-over, followed by Oregon State at 4-over.
“We made some birdies coming in,” Brockbank said. “It’s a big, long, hard golf course, but we keep coming here because it’s a great challenge, and we accomplished our goal of getting into the leader group.
Parkinson delivered an eagle on the 18th hole of his final round to move into the tie for second place.
“Joe was fantastic,” Brockbank said. “His eagle on his last hole helped the team.”
Parkinson registered a total of 11 birdies and three eagles.
“Joe was 7-under-par through five holes,” Brockbank said. “His start to the second round was awesome. The rest of the team struggled a little, but Joe played great and kept us in it.”
After the second round, BYU was tied for third place at 2-over-par but slipped to the fifth-place finish in the final round on Tuesday. The Cougars were a combined 8-over total in the final round, finishing the tournament at 10-over and tying with West Coast Conference rival Saint Mary’s.
Junior Jordan Rogers tied for 15th 1-over-par, senior Jordan Hammer and junior Cole Ogden both tied for 52nd at 10-over and senior Justin Kelley tied for 57th with 12-over.
In-state rival Utah placed last in the tournament, with a combined total of 13-over-par.
“We really have to work on our consistency and stay focused,” Brockbank said.
Next up for the Cougars is the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate in Albuquerque, N.M., Sept. 27–28.
