The fall season was a roller coaster for the BYU men's golf team.
Coach Bruce Brockbank and Kihei Akina are two of the key pieces on this squad, and while they are enjoying their winter golf break, they took time to reflect on the first half of their 2025-26 season.
"I kind of like this time of year for the kids to take a little bit of a break," Brockbank said. "I think it's good for the mind to have a little downtime after playing on a professional level like this."
Freshman phenom Kihei Akina is also enjoying his between-season break, getting into new activities and taking a short respite after a competitive fall season.
"I've gotten big into fly fishing recently," said Akina. "After a couple weeks, I kind of missed golf, so I'm ready to get back into it."
After a solid but underwhelming season for the Cougars, BYU ended the fall season ranked in 27th place in the NCAA after being ranked 13th in the preseason poll.
Akina has been a great addition to this talented team from a year ago, performing at a high level throughout the season so far and finishing in the top 10 in three out of his five events.
"I've gained some great experience this year and I know I'll be even more ready for the spring season," he said.
His teammate Simon Kwon has also performed at a very high level this season, finishing in the top 10 in four out of five of BYU's events.
"If you're going to highlight a couple of guys who've really stepped up this season, I would say Simon for sure. Peter has also played especially well, he even won an individual event," said Brockbank.
Peter Kim has also been a solid piece for the team this season, securing three top-20 finishes and a co-victory that he secured at the Tindall 2025 tournament in September.
The squad closed out the regular season with a win in The Preserve Golf Club Collegiate tournament in late October, finishing five strokes below 2nd place with 29-under-par. Tyson Shelley placed third overall in the tournament with an 11-under-par score.
"We were right in the lead the first day and stayed there most of the tournament," said Brockbank. "With your 5 guy finishing third like he did, it speaks volumes for what our team did there."
Looking ahead to the second half of the season, Akina said, "We're gonna be in contention to win some other events, for sure. I don't think we need to change much, just improving bits and pieces of our games here and there."
Akina and the team will be ready to step it up and improve in the spring half of the season, starting it off in Tucson in the Arizona N.I.T. Tournament on Jan. 26-27.
