Stockton, Calif. - In a finish tailor made for television, the 2012 Stockton Convention & Visitors Bureau Pacific Invitational came down to the final stroke of action to decide both the team and individual titles. With the title hanging in the balance, Kansas State's Kyle Weldon rolled in a birdie putt to give his team the tournament title at -46, just edging out both Nevada and Pacific. Individually, BYU's Devon Purser held off Pacific senior Alex Edfort for the individual title as Purser matched Edfort's birdie on 18 to snatch the individual title on the final day of play.
"I thought it was an absolutely awesome week," said head coach Brandon Goethals. "That type of golf for a tournament like this is seriously fun. To come down to the wire like that just makes it exciting. As an event overall I could not be more happy."
Holding the lead heading into the final day of play, Edfort continued his stellar tournament on day three as the senior posted a -5, 67 to end his tournament at 18-under par. However, despite Edfort's best efforts, the senior could not hold off the charge from Purser who matched the tournament's low round with a -8, 64 in round three. Matched in the final pairing of the tournament, the duo battled back-and-forth over the final 18 holes of action with Purser carding a 30 on the final nine holes to complete the come-from-behind victory. Overall, the champion from BYU posted a bogeyless round on Wednesday afternoon to defeat Edfort, who finished his final day with just one bogey to go along with six birdies. Despite the loss, Edfort did make program history with his play at the 2012 Pacific Invitational as the senior posted the Tigers' all-time lowest tournament total both in total strokes and strokes to par at 198, -18.
"I'm dissapointed for Alex [Edfort] as I would have loved to see him win at home during his senior year, but he played great," said Goethals. "18-under par is an unbelievable score, but Devin [Purser] just shot lower today with his 64 which is a seriously good round."
Throughout the tournament, Edfort led the way for the Tigers as Pacific attempted to chase down Kansas State over the final 18 holes of action. With Edfort distracting the field at the top of the leaderboard with his run at the individual title, sophomore Byron Meth quietly put together a spectacular tournament. Entering the day at -5 overall through two rounds, Meth went to work on the Tigers' home course on Wednesday afternoon and came away with one of the all-time best rounds in Pacific program history. Just two days after Edfort posted Pacific's third-best single round score on day one of the invitational, Meth matched the Tigers' second-best all-time single round effort as the young Tiger carded a tournament-high nine birdies and just one bogey en route to a -8, 64. For his play on the final day, Meth tied for seventh overall at -13.
"As far as the team goes I am extremely proud of everyone this week," said Goethals. "Everybody finished under-par and everybody played their tails off from the freshmen all the way to Byron with his 64 today. That's how you fight and Byron found it and kept it going and I couldn't be more proud of my team right now going into the spring season."
Overall, the Tigers as a team put together the top tournament showing in program history with their efforts at the invitational as Pacific posted a -46, 818. The Tigers' score at the invitational destroyed the program's previous record of -25, 827 set by the 2010 Tigers on their way to the Pacific Invitational championship. Additionally, the Tigers final round -20, 268 marked the first time in program history a Pacific squad had finished a round together under 270.
Pacific will take a hiatus from the course for the rest of the year with the finish of their fall schedule before returning for the Spring. The Tigers hit the course again on Feb. 11, 2013 when Pacific heads to San Diego, Calif. to take part in San Diego's Farms Collegiate Invitational.
