BYU's Seven-Shot Lead Became a Two-Shot Runner-Up Finish

BYU had a seven-shot lead after 36 holes at The Preserve Golf Club Collegiate. It left Carmel Valley with its best finish of the season, two golfers in the top five and a runner-up trophy that will still feel like the one that escaped.

Oregon shot 6 under in Tuesday’s final round while BYU shot 3 over. That nine-shot swing turned BYU’s seven-stroke advantage into a two-stroke Oregon win, 841 to 843. The Ducks did most of the damage at the end, playing their final four holes at a combined 6 under.

That is the tournament in one clean exchange. BYU built the better first 36 holes. Oregon finished the final four.

The result should not erase what freshman Drake Harvey did. He shot 70-67-70 for 9 under and second place, five shots behind Saint Mary’s medalist Sam Baumuller. Peter Kim added a tie for fifth at 6 under after opening 65-70. BYU was playing without Kihei Akina, its usual anchor, and still put two players inside the top five.

The Cougars did not lose because nobody replaced Akina. They lost because four final-round counting cards could not answer Oregon’s closing rush.

BYU Preserve final results

Austin Shelley tied for 20th at 2 under and Angus Klintworth tied for 59th at 10 over while competing as individuals. Their scores did not count toward BYU’s team total.

The official Clippd leaderboard lists the full 11-team field and completed cards. BYU’s permanent men’s golf results page carries the event alongside the rest of the season.

The seven-shot lead was earned

BYU did not back into its 36-hole position. The Cougars opened with a 10-under 278, then posted the best round of the tournament with a 14-under 274.

Kim’s first-round 65 provided the first jolt. Harvey followed with a second-round 67, Liechty added a 68 and Jones shot 69. Four BYU players were 3 under or better in round two. The five-count-four format did exactly what BYU needed: the fourth card stayed low enough that the team did not ask one star to carry the whole number.

Oregon was 13 under after the first round, one shot ahead of BYU, but managed only 4 under in the second. That put the Ducks at 17 under while BYU reached 24 under.

The Monday schedule also ran into darkness. Some groups, including BYU, had to complete the second round Tuesday morning before beginning the final 18. The official scores are final, but the sequence matters. BYU’s seven-shot lead became official on Tuesday, then the same day immediately asked the Cougars to protect it.

A lead that large changes golf without simplifying it. BYU no longer needed to beat Oregon hole for hole. It needed four cards that made the Ducks spend the entire afternoon chasing.

That is where the fourth score returned as the deciding number.

Harvey gave BYU the card it needed

Harvey’s final-round 70 was not the problem. He made four birdies and two bogeys, answered a bogey at No. 6 with birdies at Nos. 7 and 8, and finished 2 under for the day.

His 207 total was the lowest 54-hole score of his college career and produced his first top-five finish. It also gave BYU one reliable final-round card while the team lead tightened.

Harvey’s fall had already shown pieces of this performance. He closed the Tucker Invitational with a 67, made eight birdies in a Big 12 Match Play win over Arizona State and finished that event unbeaten. The Preserve asked him to hold form across 54 holes of stroke play. He did.

The runner-up finish is stronger than a hot closing round because all three cards counted. Harvey started with 70, moved with 67 and protected his position with another 70. He never needed a dropped round to clean up the total.

He also did it while the player who normally owns BYU’s low-score expectation was elsewhere. Akina had just completed the PGA Tour’s Butterfield Bermuda Championship and was not in the Preserve lineup. Harvey did not imitate Akina’s role. He supplied his own version: three usable cards and the team’s best individual finish.

The final card slipped one place too far

BYU’s five team players shot 70, 73, 74, 74 and 75 in the final round. Kim’s 75 was dropped. The other four added to 291, or 3 over.

That is an important distinction. The problem was not one disastrous card contaminating the total. BYU successfully discarded its highest score. The problem was that the fourth counting score was still 74 while Oregon assembled 68, 70, 71 and 73 for 282.

Oregon gained nine shots in the round because its entire counting line was lower:

• Ramil Saelim shot 68.
• Adam Anderson shot 70.
• Carl-Hugo Eriksson shot 71.
• Sebastian Desoisa recovered from a difficult start to shoot 73.

Three Ducks finished tied for fifth or better. BYU had two. The extra top-five card explains some of the final separation, but Oregon’s depth at the bottom of its counting four finished the job.

The final four holes sharpen the point. Oregon Athletics reports that its lineup played that closing stretch at a combined 6 under. Anderson made three birdies, Desoisa made two and Eriksson made two over those last four holes. The Ducks were even par for the round with four holes left and reached 6 under by the clubhouse.

BYU’s official recap says the Cougars had a chance down the stretch but did not produce enough quality iron shots to create the birdies they found Monday. The cards support the broader part of that explanation. BYU went from 24 birdies below par across the first two team rounds to a 3-over final total, while Oregon found its best team round when the trophy moved inside four holes.

No scorecard can tell us every missed target or club choice. It can tell us BYU’s cushion disappeared through a full-line scoring difference, not one isolated blowup.

Kim’s 65 still mattered after the 75

Kim’s final-round 75 cost him a chance at the individual title and dropped him three places into a tie for fifth. It did not make his week a failure.

His opening 65 was tied for the lowest round of the tournament. Only Baumuller’s second-round 66 pushed the medalist to a lower 36-hole total. Kim followed the 65 with a 70, which meant BYU had used 135 strokes from him while building the seven-shot team lead.

The format discarded his 75 on Tuesday. That is exactly what the fifth card is supposed to do. BYU did not count the damage, yet it also did not have enough lower cards behind Harvey to preserve the team margin.

Kim still earned the ninth top-five finish of his career. Liechty’s 71-68-73 produced a career-best 212 and a tie for 13th. Those are not consolation details. They show why BYU could contend without Akina and why the fall finale offers more than a painful closing number.

The Cougars found three players who finished 13th or better. Two set career-best 54-hole scores. The lineup’s ceiling expanded even as its final-round floor gave way.

What BYU carries into February

BYU ended its fall with a second-place finish, its best team result of the season. The earlier stroke-play finishes were fourth at the Vuori Invitational and third at the Tucker. At Big 12 Match Play, the Cougars tied for fifth while going unbeaten in team matches.

The progression is real, but the Preserve result keeps it from becoming a neat upward line. BYU proved it could shoot 24 under across two rounds without Akina. It also showed that a seven-shot lead cannot protect itself when the final counting four is nine shots worse than a contender’s.

Harvey’s runner-up finish is the most useful development. Liechty’s career-best total is another. Kim’s opening 65 gives BYU evidence that its low-round gear is not limited to Akina.

The unfinished part sits below those headline cards. BYU needs a fourth score that stays close enough when the conditions, pressure or swing quality change. Tuesday’s 74 was not a collapse in isolation. It became decisive because Oregon’s fourth counter was 73 and its other three counters were all under par.

BYU will not compete again until the Arizona N.I.T. in Tucson on Feb. 1-2, 2027. That leaves more than three months between the fall’s best team finish and the next official score.

The Cougars can carry confidence from 278-274 and honesty from 291. Both belong in the review. The first two rounds proved BYU has enough scoring to lead a strong field. The final four holes proved that leading and closing remain separate jobs.

For the setup that preceded the tournament, read our Preserve how-to-follow guide. The Big 12 Match Play recap shows how Harvey and Liechty arrived in California unbeaten, and the men’s golf hub tracks the roster and spring schedule.

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Sources and further reading

• BYU Athletics: Harvey, BYU take second at The Preserve for BYU’s team rounds, player cards, career notes, lineup context and next event.
• BYU Athletics: official schedule event 25380 for the stable event ID, completed status, dates and Carmel location.
• Clippd: official team leaderboard and player leaderboard for the final field order, round splits and individual placements.
• Oregon Athletics: Ducks rally late to win for Oregon’s final-four-hole surge, individual finish details and team card.
• Cal Poly: Preserve final for host-side confirmation of Oregon’s 23-under win, BYU’s 21-under finish and Baumuller’s medalist total.
• BYU Sport Nuts: Preserve follow guide, Tucker third-place recap and Kihei Akina’s Bermuda analysis.