WAHIAWA -- The BYU men's golf team began their spring season shooting one-over-par 289 in the first round of the John A. Burns Intercollegiate.
The Cougars sit in the middle of the 19-team field that boasts three top-20 teams. The No. 47-ranked Cougars were led by sophomore Greg Machtaler and freshman Daniel Summerhays who both ended the first day at one-under-par and tied for 20th individually.
""We left a lot of shots on the golf course today," BYU head coach Bruce Brockbank said. "We had a couple of guys playing well who finished a bit sloppy. We probably could have shot at least 4 or 5 under, but finished one-over par, which isn't a terrible score."
Ron Harvey Jr. and Jared Overton were one-over and two-over respectively, while freshman Oscar Alvarez finished the day at four-over-par. The highly-touted new edition to the BYU squad struggled a bit in his first tournament as a Cougar.
"He (Oscar) got over par real early, then came back, but had a tough final four holes to finish with a 76," Brockbank said.
The John A. Burns Intercollegiate is hosted by the University of Hawaii at the Leilehua Golf Course, a par 72 6,917-yard course in Wahiawa, Hawaii. The Cougars last won the tournament in 2000 by nine strokes over Arizona. After the first round of this year's Burns, No. 8 Arizona leads the field after going 8-under.
"After a 3 1/2 month break from competition we did reasonably well," Brockbank said. "Our guys are hanging in there. Hopefully we'll come out in the next two rounds and get better."
The second 18 holes will be held Friday February 20 and the tournament will finish up on Saturday Februray 21.
TEAM SCORES
1. Arizona, U. of 280
2. SMU 281
2. New Mexico, U. of 281
4. San Diego State U. 284
5. California, U. of 286
6. Denver, U. of 287
6. Utah, Univ. of 287
6. Auburn University 287
9. UNLV 288
10. Brigham Young 289
11. Nagoya University 292
11. Texas El Paso 292
13. UC-Santa Barbara 293
14. Hawaii-Hilo 296
14. Hawaii, Univ. 296
14. Pacific, U. 296
17. San Francisco 297
18. San Jose State 299
19. UH-White 308
BYU INDIVIDUAL SCORES
T 20 Daniel Summerhays 36-35--71
T 20 Greg Machtaler 34-37--71
T 43 Ron Harvey, Jr. 36-37--73
T 50 Jared Overton 40-34--74
T 72 Oscar Alvarez 38-38--76