Kihei Akina gave BYU the lead card it expected at the Vuori Invitational. The surprise was how close the rest of a young lineup came to putting the Cougars on the podium with him.
Akina shot 71-70-69 for a 3-under 210 and finished second Tuesday at Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club. BYU posted 288-289-287 for a 12-over 864, good for fourth in the 12-team field and one stroke behind USC.
That last stroke is the useful part of the team result. BYU started two freshmen, counted at least one freshman score in every round and still finished ahead of eight teams. It also entered the final round three shots ahead of USC, then watched the Trojans gain four with a 283. Fourth place was respectable. Third was available.
BYU’s Vuori Invitational scorecard
| BYU golfer | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Total | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kihei Akina | 71 | 70 | 69 | 210 (-3) | 2nd |
| Parker Bunn | 71 | 73 | 72 | 216 (+3) | T-14th |
| Austin Shelley | 73 | 74 | 72 | 219 (+6) | T-22nd |
| Drake Harvey | 74 | 72 | 74 | 220 (+7) | T-28th |
| Jackson Mauss | 73 | 74 | 78 | 225 (+12) | T-49th |
| David Liechty, individual | 73 | 82 | 70 | 225 (+12) | T-49th |
| BYU team | 288 | 289 | 287 | 864 (+12) | 4th of 12 |
College golf counts the best four scores from a five-player team card in each round. Harvey’s opening 74 was the clear drop. In the second round, Shelley and Mauss both shot 74, so one counted and one did not. Mauss’ final 78 was dropped Tuesday.
The arithmetic leaves a clean freshman receipt. Shelley counted in the first and final rounds, Harvey counted in the second and final rounds, and the pair supplied 146 of BYU’s 287 in the closing round. Neither had a college score when the week began.
The card was not deep enough to catch Arkansas, which won at even-par 852, or Colorado at 853. It was deep enough to stay within one shot of USC and two ahead of tournament host San Diego in the official BYU final. For an opener built around three sophomores and two freshmen, that is real evidence without being a trophy.
Akina nearly turned patience into a win
San Diego State freshman Brayden Forte won at 5-under 208. Akina finished two shots back after making his move with a final-round 69.
The sophomore reached 3 under with consecutive birdies at Nos. 8 and 9, then played the rest of the round at even par. There was no late collapse and no frantic string of birdies to repair early damage. He gave BYU its lowest score of the day and made Forte post the winning number.
Akina’s three rounds also moved in the right direction: 71, 70, 69. That matters after a summer that carried him through PGA Tour starts, the U.S. Amateur and the Walker Cup. The pregame lineup file identified a calm 36-hole opening day as a better test than one spectacular round followed by a rescue. He was 1 under through Monday, then went lower when the tournament moved to its last 18.
Second place is his eighth career top-five finish, according to BYU Athletics. It also fits the standard he set with an eighth-place result at the NCAA Championship in June. Akina did not need this week to prove that he belongs at the top of BYU’s card. He needed to show that a long amateur summer had not disrupted his college stroke-play floor.
A 210 on a course where Colorado reported a 73.95 scoring average across 225 rounds answers that question for one tournament. Akina beat 73 players in the 75-man field. Only Forte beat him.
The freshmen gave BYU more than survival cards
Shelley supplied the cleaner debut. His 73-74-72 line improved when the final-round pressure arrived, and his 6-over 219 tied for 22nd. All three of his rounds were within three shots of par.
That steadiness was more valuable than one low round surrounded by damage. BYU could use Shelley’s 73 on Monday morning and needed his 72 on Tuesday. His second-round 74 tied Mauss, so it did not hurt the team whether it counted or became the drop.
Harvey’s week had a little more movement. He opened with the score BYU discarded, responded with a 72 in the second round and closed with a 74. The middle round mattered because it was BYU’s second-best score behind Akina’s 70. A freshman whose first college card did not count came back the same day and gave the team a required score.
Together, Shelley and Harvey tied for 22nd and 28th, respectively. BYU did not hide either player in the individual field, and neither finished at the bottom of the lineup. Mauss, the returning sophomore who began the week as the fifth team player, dropped to a tie for 49th after a final 78.
One tournament should not settle the next lineup. It should change the evidence available for choosing it. Shelley now owns three steady rounds. Harvey has shown that he can answer a dropped card with a counting one. Mauss has two opening 73-74 rounds and a rough finish to correct. The competition for the fourth and fifth spots is no longer built on summer résumés alone.
Bunn kept the lineup from becoming Akina plus four
Parker Bunn’s 3-over 216 tied for 14th and gave BYU a second top-15 finisher. His final 72 included four birdies and five bogeys, which is busier than his total suggests, but it counted alongside Akina in every round.
That was the bridge BYU needed. Akina finished nine shots ahead of Bunn, but Bunn stayed three ahead of Shelley and four ahead of Harvey. Without his 71-73-72, the lineup would have split into one national contender and four players at 6 over or worse.
Bunn’s result also carries forward from May, when he was BYU’s low scorer at the NCAA Athens Regional. Rancho Santa Fe did not demand another 10-under week from him. It asked whether the regional was an isolated postseason spike or the beginning of a reliable second card. A second career top-15 finish nudges the answer toward reliable.
The gap to Akina remains large enough to matter. BYU cannot expect its lead player to finish second every week, and a team trying to contend needs someone else closer to par. Still, Bunn gave the freshmen room to learn without making their debuts responsible for the entire team finish.
The final round showed both sides of fourth place
BYU’s 287 was its best team round of the tournament. It was also four shots worse than USC’s 283 and six worse than Colorado’s field-best 281.
That is why the final leaderboard should feel encouraging and irritating at the same time. The Cougars improved from Monday, Akina shot 69, Shelley gave them a 72 and Mauss’ 78 did not have to count. The four usable cards still totaled 3 over. USC found the extra four shots and took third by one.
Arkansas finished 12 shots ahead of BYU, so the Cougars were not one swing from winning. Colorado was 11 ahead. The podium gap was much smaller because USC also spent most of the week away from the lead. BYU’s immediate lesson is not that it nearly won a major event. It is that the margin between third and fourth can sit inside one approach, one three-putt or one late bogey across 54 holes.
David Liechty added another useful comparison as an individual. His 73-82-70 card ended at the same 12-over total as Mauss. The second-round 82 took him out of the team-lineup argument for this week, but his closing 70 was BYU’s second-best Tuesday score and cannot be ignored when the next five are chosen.
That next choice comes quickly. BYU travels to the William H. Tucker Invitational at UNM Championship Course on Sept. 25-26. Akina and Bunn leave Rancho Santa Fe with top-15 finishes. Shelley and Harvey leave with every round counted between them. Mauss and Liechty each leave with one expensive round attached to otherwise usable golf.
The opener answered the broad question: BYU’s young card can compete in a strong field. Albuquerque gets the narrower one. Can the Cougars turn four useful scores into four low scores on the same day, before another team takes the one stroke they left available?
Sources and further reading
- BYU Athletics, Sept. 16: Akina takes second; Cougars finish fourth at the Vuori Invitational for BYU’s official team total, player cards, finishes, final-round details, coach comment and next event.
- BYU Athletics schedule event 25377 for the stable event ID, completed status, official date range and Rancho Santa Fe location.
- BYU Athletics, Sept. 15: Akina, Cougars in fourth after day one for the 36-hole order, opening-round hole details and course-condition context.
- Colorado Athletics, Sept. 15: Buffs finish second at the Vuori Invitational for independent confirmation of the team and individual leaders, 75-player field, course setup and tournament scoring average.
- Arkansas Athletics, Sept. 15: Razorbacks win the Vuori Invitational for independent confirmation of Arkansas’ winning total and the complete 12-team order.
- BYU Sport Nuts: men’s golf hub, Vuori lineup and follow guide and Lincoln Markham’s individual debut analysis.
