Cowboys finish 10th at BYU PING Cougar Classic

* University of Wyoming Athletics media relations release

PROVO, Utah., -- In their final regular-season tournament prior to next week’s Mountain West Championship, the Wyoming Cowboys placed 10th in a field of 13 teams at the BYU PING Cougar Classic on Saturday.

The Pokes finished with a team score of 874 (+10). Senior Bryce Waters and freshman Jaren Calkins were the top individual finishers for UW, tying for 30th place out of 83 individual golfers, with identical scores of 218 (+2).

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“We’ve been playing a lot of desert courses this spring and this was a much different course -- a tree-lined course,” said Joe Jensen, University of Wyoming Director of Golf. “At times we made good adjustments to this type of course, other times we didn’t adjust as well as we would have liked.

“This was a good test for us as next week’s conference championship in Bremerton, Wash., will be on a similar course with a lot of trees. I saw more good than bad this week. Bryce (Waters) closed out the tournament with a great round of 69 (-3) today. We had several guys have good individual rounds, but we were unable to maintain good play over three consecutive rounds.”

Other Cowboys who shot even-par or under-par rounds for the tournament included: junior Kirby Coe-Kirkham, who fired an opening round 70 (-2) on Friday. Junior Tyler Severin posted a 71 (-1) round in the first round.

Freshman Calkins was the most consistent performer for the Cowboys this weekend. He shot an even-par round 72 in the opening round and closed out the tournament with a final round of 71 (-1).

After a Friday that was plagued by lightning and rain, the 13 teams were able to finish round two and complete the third and final round on Saturday on a sunny but chilly day in Provo.

Following Waters and Calkins 30th-place finishes, redshirt freshman Patrick Azevedo tied for 49th at 223 (+7). Coe-Kirkham and Severin tied for 54th place at 225 (+9).

In addition to the five Pokes representing Wyoming as a team, there were two Cowboys who competed as individuals in this year’s Cougar Classic. Freshman Cade McLaughlin tied for 66th at 228 (+12). Redshirt sophomore Jimmy Dales shot an opening round of 72 (Even) on Friday, but he withdrew for the remainder of the tournament in order to not exceed the maximum number of rounds he is allowed to play this season.

The host BYU Cougars posted a final round of 273 (-15) on Saturday and concluded the tournament with a three-round total of 832 (-32) to win by seven strokes over San Diego, who shot an 839 (-25) total for 54 holes. Carson Lundell of BYU and Andi Xu of San Diego tied for individual medalist honors at 205 (-11).

The 57th PING Cougar Classic was played on the Riverside Country Club in Provo, Utah. The course measured 7,142 yards and played to a par of 72.

Next Up for the Cowboys

Wyoming will travel to Bremerton, Wash., next week to play in the 2022 Mountain West Conference Men’s Golf Championship at the Gold Mountain Golf Club on Friday-Sunday, April 29-May 1.

Team Standings

1. Brigham Young 270-289-273=832 (-32)

2. San Diego 273-279-287=839 (-25)

3. Colorado State 281-294-276=851 (-13)

4. Washington State 284-295-285=864 (Even)

5. Nevada 288-290-287=865 (+1)

Boise State 278-295-292=865 (+1)

Utah Valley 288-290-287=865 (+1)

8. New Mexico State 291-293-287=871 (+7)

9. Pacific 282-299-291=872 (+8)

10. Wyoming 286-299-289=874 (+10)

11. St. Mary’s 291-295-291=877 (+13)