By CHARLENE SPRINGER
The BYU men’s golf team will head to sunny California Monday and Tuesday to participate in the Southwestern Intercollegiate Invitational.
The tournament will be held at the North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village. Play begins at 7:30 a.m. Monday with 36 holes and concludes Tuesday with the final round.
The team has been practicing for the last three weeks, and head coach Bruce Brockbank says the practices have been helpful for the team.
“We’re going to put our playing shoes back on and see if we can do it,” Brockbank said. “The team is ready to start playing again.”
The Southwestern Invitational is one of the premier tournaments in collegiate golf. The course is a par 71 course with a course rating of 73.0.
Brockbank said the course is a challenging one, mostly because of the Santa Anna winds. “The course is a great field and a good test of golf skills,” Brockbank said.
USC will be hosting the tournament, and BYU will be competing against some of the top college golf teams. The teams include defending NCAA champion Arizona State, Arkansas, Fresno State, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Oregon State, Pepperdine and UCLA.
The BYU players who will be playing in this tournament are senior Joseph Summerhays, sophomore Michael Henderson, and freshmen Andy Miller, Jose Garrido and Jesse Hibler.
Garrido said the team is ready to get back into playing mode. “The weather hasn’t helped us much,” Garrido said.
Garrido said even though the weather has been poor, the team is prepared for the tournament. Garrido said golf is a mental game, and being prepared mentally is very important.
“If you don’t play in tournaments much, you are more excited to do it,” Garrido said. “We are ready to play again.”
Hibler also said the team is ready for the tournament. “It’s been hard with the weather, but we’ve still been out practicing,” Hibler said. “Our practices have been helping us improve our scores.”
Hibler said the team is very excited to be playing in a tournament again.
“Everyone’s been able to work on their games the past few weeks,” Hibler said. “We’re going to do great.”
