The BYU men’s golf team will look to turn the page on a slow start to the season when it tees off Monday in San Diego at the R.E. Lamkin Invitational against 16 other teams.
The San Diego Country Club will hold the 19th annual invitational this year as BYU looks to improve its play in preparation for the national championship. The Cougars competed last year in the national championship after winning the NCAA Reno Invitational.
“Every tournament is a step towards the national championship,” said BYU junior Peter Kim.
In its first two outings, BYU finished ninth at the John A. Burns Intercollegiate tournament in Hawaii and tied for fourth at the Arizona N.I.T.
Despite the mixed results, the Cougars say that they gained valuable experience from the prior tournaments.
“Those events needed to happen for us to have success in the long run,” said BYU senior Simon Kwon.
While the team feels it could be performing better, there is still much to be pleased with.
Entering the Invitational on Monday, BYU is ranked no. 30 in the nation and are among five teams in the field that are within the NCAA’s top-60 clubs.
Still, the Cougars are not satisfied.
“This team has big goals of winning a national championship,” said Kwon. “This team can 100% do it.”
BYU has also benefited from some strong individual play from Freshman Kihei Akina who also made his first cut in a PGA tour event.
However, the Cougars are hungry to continue to get better and look poised to have a strong outing in San Diego.
“We’re going to come into this next tournament with a chip on our shoulder and I think we have a great chance of winning,” said Kwon. “We’re going to give it our best.”
The Cougars will tee off at 8 a.m MDT and the tournament will finish at 7 p.m. MDT on Tuesday.