By Jennifer Winn
The Fresno Lexus Classic begins today and marks the second tournament this week for the BYU men”s golf team.
“We”ve never played this tournament before,” sophomore Greg Machtaler said. “Coach says the course at Fresno is really tough, but we”re expecting to play well.”
The Lexus Classic is unlike any tournament the Cougars have played this season.
“At this tournament, you play the first 36 holes as a team,” head coach Bruce Brockbank said. “It”s a very unusual type of tournament, but we are excited for the new format.”
The tournament will be played at the San Joaquin Country Club in Fresno, Calif.
Five members of the golf team qualified to participate in the tournament – freshman Clay Bingham, sophomore Greg Machtaler, sophomore Ron Harvey, freshman Daniel Summerhays, and senior Jared Overton.
One of the goals of the Lexus Classic is to improve the overall consistency of the team, Brockbank said.
“You have to be consistent and straight right off the tee,” Brockbank said.
The lower scores of the fourth and fifth members of the team are raising the team”s overall score. Brockbank said he thinks it is important to lower these scores in order for BYU to place higher in upcoming tournaments.
Senior Jared Overton said the team”s greatest weakness so far in the season its short game.
“Tournaments are lost chipping and putting. They”re not lost with the long shots,” Overton said. “When you fall behind the leader and your short game is off, you keep falling behind even more.”
Overton said because of the team”s short game weaknesses, the Cougars have been concentrating on chipping and putting the past several weeks.
Successful golf play depends on a positive mindset, Overton said.
“Some of us get too discouraged. We get our mindset out of the game and start throwing shots away,” Overton said. “If we can get our heads in the game and each save one to two shots, we could get ahead of the leading teams.”
“Every shot counts,” he said. “When we”re not playing that well, we start throwing away shots.”
Sophomore Greg Machtaler said he agrees a positive mindset is important to the team”s playing ability.
“You just have to go out there expecting to play your very best,” Machtaler said. “We”ve practiced really hard these past couple weeks. We”ve all worked really hard on our short game.”
Despite any weaknesses the team has been experiencing, Brockbank is optimistic about the team”s future.
“We definitely have the potential,” Brockbank said. “We”re just a little wet behind the ears.”
