By Jennifer Winn
Sophomore Greg Machtaler finished the Fresno Lexus Classic in second place individually, the best finish by any Cougar this season.
With a final score of 70-69-68-207, Machtaler nearly beat the No. 2 ranked golfer in the nation, Nick Watney of Fresno State, on his home turf. A birdie on Machtaler”s final hole would have forced a tie with the All-American. Unfortunately, Machtaler came up short.
“Machtaler played incredible golf this whole tournament,” BYU head coach Bruce Brockbank said. “To go out and shoot nine-under-par on this golf course really says a lot about what kind of golfer he is.
Machtaler”s second place finish continued his streak of finishing in the top 25 in every tournament this season.
The Cougars finished the tournament tied for fourth with San Diego State, BYU”s best finish this season.
Right behind Machtaler was freshman Daniel Summerhays who finished third individually in the Lexus Classic. Summerhays” score of 69-70-71-210 was the best finish of his young BYU career.
“What can I say, he (Summerhays) just plays solid golf every tournament,” Brockbank said. “Greg (Machtaler) and Danny (Summerhays) really carried the whole team on their backs this whole tournament.”
Two Cougars have not finished in the top five simultaneously since the 2001 Mountain West Championships when Jesse Hibler and Scott Miller finished second and third until the Fresno Lexus Classic.
Machtaler and Summerhays both ended the first round at five-under-par.
“Any time you”ve got two individuals fighting for the lead, it”s going to give your team a big boost,” Brockbank said.
The Cougars managed to stay consistent on day two of the tournament in order to maintain their top five placing.
After the first day of play Friday, BYU and Colorado State University were the only teams unable to finish the second round of play due to darkness. The two teams had to finish the second round Saturday morning as well as play the third and remaining round.
Before second-round action was suspended Friday, BYU men”s golf team sat in second out of 16 teams.
At the end of the first day of the tournament, BYU was ahead of host Fresno State, the eventual winner of the tournament.
“We were glad that we had a chance to finish the second round, though near darkness it may have caused us a few strokes,” Fresno State head coach Mike Watney said after Friday”s competition. “We are still in the hunt. It will take a very good round to catch up to BYU.”
Catch up is just what Fresno State did. Fresno State not only caught up to BYU as hoped by Watney, but the team managed to beat the Cougars by seven strokes to win the tournament.
Other than Machtaler and Summerhays, the remaining Cougars struggled throughout the tournament.
Freshman Clay Bingham and sophomore Ron Harvey Jr. tied for 66th individually. Bingham went 74-80-76-230 while Harvey went 78-72-30-230.
Jared Overton finished the tournament 85th going 79-80-80-239.
The Cougars have one week to fine-tune their skills before heading to the final tournament of their fall season hosted by San Diego State. The Aztec Invitational will be held at the Barona Creek Golf Course Oct. 21-22.
