It was a good place to make a little history.

The Brigham Young junior from Farmington shot a 10-under-par 60 last week, matching the best score by a collegiate golfer. Ryder Cup star Paul Casey, formerly of Arizona State, is among the others to go that low; Tiger Woods' best was a 61 in his Stanford days.

This would be a better story if, in the Colonial Williamsburg tradition, Summerhays had played with hickory-shafted clubs and gutta percha balls in the Ping/Golfweek Preview at the Golden Horseshoe Golf Club in Virginia. Yet it's remarkable enough, considering some of the background and details - including his 12 birdies and a bid for a 59 that somehow stayed out of the hole.

Summerhays had opened with 74-75 and the Cougars were struggling in the elite tournament for the top 15 teams, played annually at the site of the next spring's NCAA Championship. A two-time Utah State Amateur champion as a teenager, Summerhays has faced the same challenge as his brother Boyd once did, trying to play up to his old golfing standards in college after returning from a two-year LDS Church mission.

After the second round, Summerhays was questioning his future, asking himself, "Am I really going to be able to play this professionally?"

Sixty strokes later, the nephew of Champions Tour veteran Bruce Summerhays was feeling a little better about his pro chances.

"He gets so frustrated," said BYU coach Bruce Brockbank, "because he works so, so hard."

The improved results came suddenly. Beginning his round on the back nine, Summerhays parred his first hole and then delivered seven straight birdies, topped by a 30-foot chip-in. At that point, he recalled, "I just threw my hands in the air and said, 'Wow.' "

But after another birdie on his 10th hole, he made a par, followed by two straight bogeys. Just like that, his round was threatening to become rather ordinary, which is exactly what he told himself.

His response? Four birdies in a row, bringing him to the last hole with a chance to do something really special. Maybe more than any two numbers in any sport, there's a huge difference between 59 and 60 in golf, and Summerhays knew it. For the first time all day, he allowed himself to think about what he was doing.

"I was happy with myself, because it's just as hard to stay focused when you're playing well as it is to hang in there when you're playing badly," he said.

So here he was, facing a 25-foot, big-breaking putt for a 59. College coaches can offer advice during a round, so Summerhays asked BYU assistant Todd Miller for help.

"I'm not going to tell you anything," Miller said, figuring Summerhays had played the previous 58 shots well enough.

Summerhays read the putt perfectly, but the ball stopped a half-turn from the hole on the high side. "You could sit there all day and not do that again," Brockbank said.

So it's natural to think about what he missed out on, even if his 59th stroke of the day was executed just the way he wanted. "No complaints," Summerhays said.

Other collegians, including Woods, have shot lower than 10 under. Yet a par-70 course is really no easier than a par-71 or par-72 track, because there are only two par-5s. The Gold Course at Golden Horseshoe was reconfigured from a par-71 for this tournament, while still stretching to 6,809 yards at low elevation.

The tournament medalist, Florida's Billy Hoerschel, shot a 63 that day. Otherwise, scores were not particularly low. Further validation of Summerhays' round is that no other Cougar broke 70 in the tournament, even if that's not necessarily good news for the team.

"Maybe that 60 wasn't so much for me, but for our team," said Summerhays, who once shot an 11-under 61 in the Rose Park Open in Salt Lake City. "Hopefully, it'll light a little fire under all of us."

It's not as if Summerhays wasn't already trying hard. Brockbank labels him "one of the most competitive kids I've ever coached." It's just that he has faced the same internal demands that drove his brother out of college golf - a combination of extremely high expectations on the course and a drive to excel academically.

Boyd Summerhays became so frustrated after his mission that he turned pro with two years of eligibility remaining at Oklahoma State. He figured his only chance to improve fast enough to make the PGA Tour was to focus strictly on golf, and it worked. He eventually qualified for the tour, as only the second returned missionary ever to do so.

His younger brother is trying to get there after graduation. It's not easy. After completing the Preview, the Cougars flew home late Wednesday night, attended two days of classes and left again Saturday for a tournament in Alabama.

Summerhays had to take two important tests in accounting and economics courses. For a serious student, playing college golf is "definitely a life lesson in prioritizing and time management," he said.

Efficiency, too. Finishing a round of golf in 60 strokes, as opposed to 74 or 75, saves a lot of effort.

kkragthorpe@sltrib.com

Front nine: 3 4 4 5 3 4 2 3 4 - 32

Back nine: 4 3 2 3 3 4 2 3 4 - 28

Par: 70. Birdies are circled, bogeys are squared

Summerhays started his round on the back nine

Summerhays' 60