PROVO — The BYU golf team put the "Cougar" back in the Cougar Classic Saturday afternoon in winning the 44th annual tournament by the slimmest of margins.
BYU hadn't won its own tournament outright since 2000 and, despite being the 4th-ranked team in the country, looked unlikely to win it this year. The Cougars trailed after the first and second rounds and were still trailing near the end of the third round.
However, the Cougars came through in the clutch as four of the five Y. golfers birdied his last hole, which gave them a one-shot victory over UNC-Charlotte.
The Cougars finished with a 54-hole total of 828, which was just one stroke better than the 49ers, who were making their first appearance in the tourney.
"Wow, it's just exciting to win," BYU coach Bruce Brockbank said. "That tells a little bit about the character of this team. It's pretty impressive what they did."
Brockbank figured his team was going to come up short again in its own tourney, which was delayed by more than three hours Saturday because of overnight rain, necessitating a shotgun start.
However Clay Ogden birdied his final two holes, Nos. 2 and 3, with 15-footers. Nick Becker sank a 12-footer at No. 2 and Danny Summerhays nearly holed his eagle approach at No. 1 and tapped in for birdie.
At No. 18, Jake Ellison was 10 feet away, while Charlotte's Ray Sheedy was 30 feet away. Little did either know the two teams were tied at the time.
Sheedy just missed his putt and then Ellison stepped up and rolled his downhiller into the cup, barely, to give the Cougars the victory.
"I figured it was close, but I didn't know," Ellison said when asked if he knew how important his putt was. "This is always one of our goals to win this tournament, so it was nice to win."
"We didn't lose the tournament, BYU just won it," Charlotte coach Jamie Green said.
In the individual race, Weber State's Barry Schenk blew away the field, finishing at 15-under-par 201, four shots better than Ellison, Utah's Dustin Pimm and Boise State's Graham DeLaet.
Schenk, who hails from Layton, shot a final-round 68, which along with his first two rounds of 67 and 66, gave him a 201 total, tying the tournament record set in 2000 by Andy Miller.
For Schenk, it was a fitting finish to his collegiate career, which includes just one more tournament.
"This is so sweet, it's my first win," he said. "It's been a long time coming for me. It is so special to me to share it with my family and friends and do it in front of the BYU crowd."
Schenk started the final round with a one shot lead over Pimm, but after 11 holes was just even par.
However, he birdied Nos. 12 and 13, then hit a marvelous shot from 200-plus yards away with his 16-degree hybrid club at the par-5 15th hole. The ball just cleared the bunker and bounced on to the green just two feet away. Schenk sank the eagle putt to go to 4-under on the day and parred in.
Pimm, who grew up in Sandy, had led after the first round with a 64, and led briefly when he went to 4-under on the day after 12 holes. But he struggled coming in and made a bogey at No. 11, his second-to-last hole, and double bogeyed 12 when his drive ended up against a fence.
"I just made some stupid mistakes," Pimm said.
Thanks in large part to Schenk's outstanding showing, Weber State came in third place at 838, while No. 7-ranked UNLV finished fourth at 839 after posting the best team score of the day, 270.
Nevada was fifth at 841, while Fresno State, the first-round leader and defending champion tied for sixth with Colorado State at 842.
Among the other local schools, Utah was 10th, Utah Valley 11th, Southern Utah 13th and Utah State 15th.
UTEP was forced to withdraw because of the delayed start so it could catch a plane.
Colorado State's Zen Brown had the best score of the day, a 9-under-par 63, while BYU's Ogden and UNLV's Sevng-Su Han both shot 66.
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