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Alvarez Helps Cougars Into Sixth Place At National Championship
BYU's Oscar Alvarez's three-under-par 67 helped the Cougars start the 2005 NCAA Golf Championship in sixth place on Wednesday at Cave's Valley Golf Club in Baltimore.
June 1, 2005 BALTIMORE, Md. - BYU's Oscar Alvarez's three-under-par 67 helped the Cougars start the 2005 NCAA Golf Championship in sixth place on Wednesday at Cave's Valley Golf Club in Baltimore. Similar to his first round 63 at the West Regional, Alvarez jump-started the Cougars out of the gates at the national championship. The junior from Colombia got his short game going when he holed it from the bunker on hole No. 3. He was even at the turn but finished three-under on the back nine. Alvarez is currently tied for fourth place individually--two strokes back of the leaders. "I didn't really hit the ball all that well today, but just like at regionals, my putter was working really well for me," said Alvarez. "This course is really tough, but fortunately I was able to get up and down from just about everywhere today." As a team the Cougars started a bit slow. BYU was 10-over-par after eight holes, but made a great comeback on the final 11. The Cougars were five-under on the final 11 holes, and finished the day at five-over-par 285. "We had a little case of the nerves to start out with today, but we really made an impressive comeback," said BYU head coach Bruce Brockbank, who is coaching in his fifth NCAA Championship in 13 years. "To play those last 11 holes one-under-par is awesome. This is as good a golf course as you'll ever see and our guys hung in there and really played like champions today. I'm really excited about how they finished their round." Fifth-ranked Georgia leads the tournament at six-under-par. NCAA West Regional champion UNLV finished the day one stroke ahead of the Cougars at four-over-par and is in fourth place in a 30-team field. Along with Alvarez, BYU got two big scores from Ron Harvey, Jr. and Jake Ellison. Harvey and Ellison both finished the day at two-over-par and tied for 49th place. Harvey was four-over after nine holes before turning his game around on the back nine where he was two-under-par. "He (Harvey) has more guts than anybody," Brockbank said. "To finish the back nine at two-under just shows how tough he is. He's been so steady the last seven or eight tournaments. It's great to have somebody like him on this team." Ellison, who struggled at the NCAA West Regional was a big reason for the Cougars' first-round success. With MWC champion Nick Becker going nine-over-par on the day, BYU needed someone else to step up and score well. "He stepped up for us today," Brockbank said. "We really needed that score from Jake (Ellison) and he came through and delivered. For us to be successful in this tournament we need Jake (Ellison) and Greg (Machtaler) to step up and give us some good scores. Luckily for us, both Jake and Greg did that for us today." All-MWC Greg Machtaler also had a good day for BYU. His four-over-par 74 gave the Cougars a solid fourth score and put him in a tie for 87th place. BYU now hopes to move up the leaderboard during Thursday's second round. The Cougars will tee off at noon and look to improve upon their first-round efforts. "This is a good start for us," Alvarez said. "We just want to have a chance to win it on the final day."
The Golf Channel will air Thursday's second-round tape delay from 1 p.m. till 3 p.m. MST. Fans can also follow the tournament live on the internet at www.golfstat.com.
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