TUCSON, Ariz. -- The BYU Men's Golf team struggled through the first day of the Ping Arizona Intercollegiate, finishing the first round at 21 over par. The team score of 305 was only good enough to rank 18 among the 20 teams competing in Tucson on Monday.
"This is a tricky golf course," said head coach Bruce Brockbank. "Our top guys came out and got up to 3 or 4 over par and it was a challenge to get our confidence back after that kind of start."
The sixteenth-ranked USC Trojans lead the tournament at 8 under par and had four players shoot under par or better. Ohio State recorded a one-under 283 as a team to take second place after the first day. Arizona State and California are tied for third and South Carolina and Oregon are tied for fifth to round out the top five.
Manuel Merizalde and Scott Miller posted the best first round score for the Cougar team at 75, which is four over and 8 shots off of the lead. Four players are atop the leader board at four under par including, Kyle Thompson (So. Carolina), Mike Austin (Ohio State), Kevin Stadler (USC), and Brady Stockton (Arizona State).
The team score of 305 is the worst for the Cougars since an opening day 307 at the Topy Cup in September 1999 in difficult weather conditions. Despite the rough start, Brockbank is confident the Cougars can recover and make a good showing during the final two rounds.
"We will need to take a piece of this humble pie and see if we can come out and finish off strong tomorrow," Brockbank said. "We haven't shot this bad in a long time."
The Cougars have already taken steps in that direction by competing well on the first 15 holes of the second round. Second round play was suspended due to darkness Monday evening. The remaining holes will be completed Tuesday morning before the start of the third round.
Team Standings
1.USC276-8
2.Ohio State283-1
3.Arizona State286+2
California286+2
5.South Carolina290+6
Oregon290+6
7.Oregon State292+8
8.Stanford293+9
9.Mississippi295+11
10.Arizona297+13
UC-Irvine297+13
Pepperdine297+13
Arizona "B"297+13
14.Texas-El Paso300+16
15.Long Beach State301+17
16.Washington303+19
UCLA303+19
18.BYU305+21
19.Arkansas314+30
20.New Mexico State320+36
Top 10 Individuals
1.Kyle Thompson, South Carolina67-4
Mike Austin, Ohio Statae67-4
Kevin Stadler, USC67-4
Brady Stockton, Arizona State67-4
5.Andrew Medley, Ole Miss68-3
Doug Yi, California68-3
Alex Kuyumjian, USC68-3
8.James Lee, Stanford69-2
Ben Flam, Arizona State69-2
10.Travis Johnson, UCLA70-1
Hunter Mahan, USC70-1
Jeff Coburn, UC-Irvine70-1
BYU Men's First Round Scores
t54Manuel Merizalde75+4
t54Scott Miller75+4
t67Billy Harvey77+6
t76Ollie Nissenen78+7
t96Jesse Hibler82+11