Tempe, Ariz.-Led by All-American Manuela Merizalde, BYU shot a 14-under-par first round, but struggled in the second round of the Thunderbird/Savanne Invitational on Friday.
Merizalde led No. 14 BYU as he shot a first round 67, but was one-over-par in the second round. Senior golfer Scott Miller was four under after the first round and shot an even second round. Another senior, Billy Harvey was three under after round one, but faltered in the afternoon round going three over par. After the first round, BYU held a nine shot lead over the rest of the field, but the Cougars' second round scores pushed them back to sixth.
"We had an outstanding first round," BYU head coach Bruce Brockbank said. "But we didn't maintain our play and we went downhill the last ten holes today."
The Cougars' first round was their second-lowest 18 hole score on the season. Playing 36 holes in the Arizona sun, BYU started out hot, but soon fell behind a No 4 Texas, No. 8 Arizona State and No. 9 USC. Eleven teams participating in the Thunderbird/Savanne Invitational are ranked in the nation's top 30.
The Cougars were ranked as high as No. 6 earlier this season, but have struggled somewhat in their last two tournaments dropping to no. 14 in the polls. Final round action of the Sun Devil Invitational continues on Saturday where BYU looks to fight back to its winning ways.
BYU INDIVIDUALS
T 9 Manuel Merizalde 67-73--140
T 9 Scott Miller 68-72--140
T 42 Billy Harvey 69-75--144
T 60 Jesse Hibler 72-74--146
T 88 Kyle Wight 70-80--150
TEAM SCORES AFTER ROUND 2
Fin Team/Players Scores
1 Texas, Univ. of 284 270 554
T 2 Southern California 283 276 559
T 2 Houston, Univ. of 283 276 559
4 Arizona State U. 283 280 563
5 Pepperdine Univ. 288 279 567
6 Brigham Young Univ. 274 294 568
T 7 Arizona, U. of 282 288 570
T 7 New Mexico, U. of 281 289 570
T 7 Oklahoma State U. 284 286 570
10 Arizona State Maroon 284 287 571
11 Oklahoma, U. of 283 292 575
12 California, U. of 286 291 577
T 13 UCLA 296 286 582
T 13 Virginia, U. of 290 292 582
15 UNLV 290 293 583
16 Texas El Paso, U. of 295 290 585
17 Washington, U. of 295 291 586
18 Oregon, U. of 291 297 588
19 Oregon State U. 289 300 589
20 Fresno State Univ. 299 292 591
21 Stanford University 303 292 595
22 CSU-Northridge 295 304 599