Lincoln Markham did not make BYU’s five-player lineup for Monday’s Vuori Invitational. He still managed to make the lineup conversation more interesting before the team season began.
The freshman shot 69-70-75 for a 4-over 214 and tied for 15th at the Ram Masters Invitational in Fort Collins. He played as an individual, so BYU did not post a team score and none of his rounds counted toward one.
That distinction matters. This was a roster evaluation, not a BYU team result. It was also a useful one: Markham was 1 under through 45 holes of his first college tournament before a rough closing nine turned a possible top-10 debut into a top-15 tie.
The 214 is the result. The route to it says more about what BYU may have found.
Markham’s debut card
| Round | Score | To par | Running total |
|---|---|---|---|
| First | 69 | -1 | 69 (-1) |
| Second | 70 | Even | 139 (-1) |
| Final | 75 | +5 | 214 (+4) |
| Finish | T-15th |
BYU’s official hole-by-hole account credits Markham with 10 birdies and an eagle across the tournament. He made three bogeys in each of the first two rounds, then played the front nine of his final round at even par despite opening bogey-bogey-bogey.
That recovery was the best stretch of the week. An eagle at No. 6 and birdies at Nos. 7 and 8 erased the early damage and briefly moved him 1 under for the round. A bogey at No. 9 sent him to the back nine at even for the round and still 1 under for the tournament.
Then the card got away from him. Markham played Nos. 13 through 16 in 5 over: triple bogey, birdie, double bogey, bogey. He finished with a 75 and dropped into the tie for 15th.
There is no reason to hide that finish behind the phrase “first collegiate top-25.” The closing stretch cost him real places. It also came after 45 holes in which a freshman, playing his first college event after a two-year church mission, held a score under par on a tight, tree-lined course.
Both parts belong in the evaluation.
The first 45 holes are the encouraging part
A 69 in the opening round can be dismissed as a hot start. Following it with an even-par 70 is harder to wave away.
Markham made four birdies against three bogeys in round one. In round two, he made three of each. The scores were built without a giant outlier hole in his favor. Through two rounds, every gain came from a birdie and every loss was limited to a bogey.
His final-round recovery added another clue. Three straight bogeys could have ended the competitive part of his day. Instead, he got all three shots back by No. 8, using the week’s only eagle and consecutive birdies. He reached the turn exactly where he started the round.
That does not make the back nine disappear. It shows he can stop an ordinary slide. The next step is learning how to keep one mistake from becoming a cluster after the recovery has already been made.
Markham said in BYU’s official recap that he was pleased with his driving and how normal his nerves felt in his first college start. The score supports at least part of that assessment. A golfer does not stay under par for 45 holes at a narrow course by spending two days punching sideways out of trees.
Four holes changed the headline
The useful postgame split is brutally simple.
Markham played the first 48 holes in 1 under. He played Nos. 13-16 of the final round in 5 over. He played the other 50 holes in 1 under.
That four-hole run accounted for more than his entire 4-over tournament total because the birdie at No. 14 briefly gave one shot back. A triple and double on two of the other three holes did the lasting damage.
Golf makes this kind of split tempting to excuse. Remove the two blowups and the card looks excellent. The scorecard does not remove anything, and neither will BYU when it chooses five players for a team event.
College golf usually counts four scores from five players each round. A lineup can discard one high card, but it cannot assume the same player’s worst stretch will always be the discarded one. Markham’s Fort Collins assignment was therefore bigger than proving he can make birdies. He needed to show whether he could offer a countable floor.
For 45 holes, the answer was yes. Over the full 54, the final 75 made it less certain. That is an honest and useful first file.
Why this matters before the Vuori Invitational
BYU’s opening team card in San Diego includes Kihei Akina, Parker Bunn, Jackson Mauss, Drake Harvey and Austin Shelley. David Liechty will play as an individual. Markham is not among those six.
The selection was announced before his Fort Collins result was complete, so the T-15 should not be treated as a lineup snub. It should be treated as fresh competition for the next selection.
Akina owns the top card after an eighth-place NCAA Championship finish. Bunn was BYU’s low player at the NCAA Athens Regional. Mauss has returning experience, while Harvey and Shelley will make their college debuts in the team count. Liechty gets the same course comparison as the starting five without affecting BYU’s total.
Markham has now supplied the one thing none of those freshmen had when the Vuori lineup was set: three posted college rounds. His 69 is a score BYU would happily count. His 70 is exactly the kind of stable second card a team needs during a 36-hole day. His 75 is the warning attached to the sample.
This is how depth should work. Markham does not need his debut recast as a triumph, and the current five do not need to be declared on notice after one individual appearance. BYU simply has one more golfer with evidence instead of projection.
What comes next
No. 23 BYU plays 36 holes Monday and 18 Tuesday at the Vuori Invitational near San Diego. The field includes Arkansas, Colorado, Oregon, San Diego State, USC and seven other teams. Live scoring is available through the official Clippd leaderboard.
Markham’s next public assignment has not been announced. His work is clear anyway.
The 69-70 start showed he can produce two usable cards in succession. The final-round front nine showed he can recover from an ugly opening. The back nine showed what still has to shrink: not all bogeys, just the expensive cluster that turns a position near the top 10 into 15th.
BYU will learn plenty about its selected five in San Diego. Markham made sure the coaches also have a sixth or seventh name worth measuring against them.
Sources and further reading
- BYU Athletics, Sept. 12: Markham takes 15th at the Ram Masters Invitational for the official 69-70-75 card, finish, hole-by-hole scoring, individual-entry status and directly sourced comments.
- Official Clippd Ram Masters leaderboard for independent confirmation that scoring is final and the event field.
- BYU Athletics: Lincoln Markham player page for his current class, pre-BYU competitive record and 2024-26 mission dates.
- BYU Sport Nuts: men’s golf hub, Vuori Invitational lineup and follow guide, Kihei Akina’s Walker Cup result and all-sports directory.
