BYU’s run in the NCAA Men’s Golf Championships has come to an end.
The Cougars were one of 15 teams to make the cut and play on Monday in the fourth round of stroke-play qualifying for match play, but struggled on Memorial Day and did not finish in the top eight.
A top-eight finish would have enabled BYU to play in the match play portion of the event, but it wasn’t to be.
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The Cougars shot a 4-over 292 in the fourth round to record a 72-hole total of +18 and finished tied for 13th with Vanderbilt. BYU had entered the day in 12th place, but shot the day’s second-worst round.
Only 15th-place Wake Forest (+14 on Monday) played worse.
Individually, BYU senior Zac Jones bounced back nicely with a 71 on Monday, while fellow senior Cole Ponich shot even-par 72 in his final round as a Cougar. Tyson Shelley shot a 73 and Simon Kwon added a 74. Peter Kim was in the top 25 entering Monday and owned BYU’s best score through three rounds, but came in at 12-over 84.
Kim took an 11 on the par-3 8th hole.
Ponich was BYU’s highest finisher, tying for 55th at +7.
Although the finish was somewhat disappointing, it was BYU’s first top-20 finish in 15 years and completed a season in which the Cougars started fast with a win at the Big 12 match play tournament, hit a lull midseason, and then finished strong.
With Farmington’s Preston Summerhays a key contributor, Arizona State (-14) won the stroke-play portion of the tournament by two shots over top-ranked Auburn.
Summerhays tied for ninth at -3.
The other teams making match play are Florida, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia and Ole Miss.
Three of BYU’s top five players — Kwon, Shelley and Kim — will be back next year, and the squad will add one of the top junior golfers in the country, Lone Peak High’s Kihei Akina.
The Golf Channel ranked Akina the No. 4 prospect in the country for the 2025 signing class.
