PROVO — Before Peter Kuest’s career with the BYU men’s golf team began, he stood on the football field at LaVell Edwards Stadium and looked up at a regular-season crowd.

That’s when he knew he wanted to go to school and play in Provo.

And Saturday afternoon at Riverside Country Club, the Cougars were glad the Clovis, California, native came to Provo.

Kuest fired consecutive rounds in the 60s with Saturday’s 68 to win medalist honors to shoot 11-under-par 205 in three days, and the Cougars held on for a seven-stroke win over No. 22 Pepperdine for BYU’s first conference title since 2014.

“They don’t miss in California,” BYU coach Bruce Brockbank said of Kuest. “To see how he has changed the culture of our team has been awesome. I can’t say enough about the way he played this week.”

Kuest was even-par after nine holes on Saturday’s final round, including a double bogey on the par-4 12th. His run at the WCC individual title might have to wait as Santa Clara’s Hayden Shieh was polishing off a third-round 68 of his own.

But the freshman who had never before won a college golf tournament rallied on the back nine. He rounded the turn with back-to-back birdies, then dropped in two more on the fifth and sixth holes to force a playoff with Shieh.

“I just liked that I never panicked,” Kuest said. “I knew I could shoot low, no matter what happened.”

Kuest’s drive on No. 18 of the playoff hole landed in the middle of the fairway, while Shieh’s was cast off to the left side. When Shieh overshot his approach shot, the BYU freshman felt confident he could put away medalist honors in just one hole.

“I felt really good, especially after where he hit his,” Kuest said. “I knew it was stymied, so I just tried to focus on myself and shoot as low as I could.”

Utah State Amateur champion Patrick Fishburn also finished in the top-five for BYU, carding a three-day total of 5-under 211. C.J. Lee added an 11th-place finish at 2-under 214, including a 68 in the third round.

“We were just hoping not to make too big of a mess,” BYU coach Bruce Brockbank said. “But one or two guys have always stepped up — and C.J. and Peter carried the team. That’s team golf, and that’s the beauty of it. Next week, it’ll be somebody else.”

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Medalist White leads BYU women's golf to consecutive WCC titles

Alex White claimed medalist honors with a 2-under-par 70 Saturday for a three-day total of 1-over 217, and the 27th-ranked BYU women’s golf team took the top three spots on the leaderboard to roll to their second-straight West Coast Conference championship at Riverside Country Club in Provo.

The Cougars won their second WCC title since joining the West Coast Conference in 2011, and accepted the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA regional round in three weeks.

The men’s team also equaled its women’s team counterpart, who won their second-straight WCC title, as well.

“We’re trying to keep up with coach (Carrie) Roberts. She’s doing a great job, and we’ve got to figure out how to come together,” Brockbank said. “She’s really creating a culture with the women’s team; it’s fun to be around them. They are competitive young ladies, and we can take a chapter out of that book. I’m looking forward to getting a couple of those pages out of there, too.”

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