AUSTIN -- Cougars are disappointed with their play Monday and are looking for a great comeback in Tuesday's third and final round of Texas' Morris Williams Intercollegiate.
BYU played its first two rounds with struggles shooting fifteen-over-par 295-296--591 on Texas' extremely difficult home-turf, Austin Country Club, to sit in 16th position. Leading the tourney, with a home-court advantage is host (No. 5-ranked) Texas, holding a four-shot lead over (No. 9-ranked) Oklahoma State.
Competition is at its best in this event. Eight of the 18 teams are ranked in the top-20 nationally with five of them positioned in the top-10.
"This is the best field we've played against all year," said head coach Bruce Brockbank. "If you come in here and play average, it will hurt you. Hopefully this will give our guys a wake-up call."
The Cougars learned that putting is the name of the game and is exactly what went wrong for BYU.
"We're just not making our putts," Brockbank said. "On the eighteenth hole we had three guys hit their approach within six feet and all three missed birdie putts. All the putts we needed to make to stay in this thing, we just aren't making."
But putting didn't seem to be the problem for sophomore Ron Harvey, Jr. in his first round, who shot a four-under-par 68. However, it seemed to be the case for the other four players and in the entire teams' second round. Harvey is leading the team with a one-over-par total to sit tied for 32nd. Sophomore Greg Machtaler and freshman Daniel Summerhays sit tied for 46th carding 76-71--147 and 73-74--147 to total three-over-par. Senior Jared Overton came back in his second round with a 74 (78-74--152) to sit tied for 66th. And newest addition Oscar Alvarez struggled with 78-77--155 to sit tied for 79th.
But the team is not giving up, and neither is Coach Brockbank.
"My expectations are high for this team, and I really think we can do better than what we showed today," Brockbank said.
Second-round play, which was suspended due to darkness with six teams still on the course, will be resumed on Tuesday, March 18 at 7:15 a.m. (Central). The final 18 holes are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. on Tuesday.
Pepperdine's Randy Creighton tied the tournament's 18-hole scoring record with an eight-under-par 64 during the second round. Creighton's performance matched the 64 fired by Ed Fiori of Houston in 1977.
Fin.SchoolScore
1Texas -20 277-279--556
2Oklahoma State -16 280-280--560
T3 Arizona State U. -3 277-296--573
T3 UNLV -3 289-284--573
5Texas A&M E 287--287
T6 Arkansas+1 287--287
T6 TCU +1 294-283--577
T8 Fresno State +4 293--293
T8 Pepperdine +4 298-282--580
10 Houston+5 289--289
11 Tulsa +7 293-290--583
T12 Baylor+9 296--296
T12 Southern California+9 295-290--585
14 Georgia Tech +11 297-290--587
15 New Mexico +12 294--294
16 Brigham Young +15 295-296--591
17 Oklahoma, U. of +16 290-302--592
18 North Florida+17 303-290--593
Fin.BYU PlayersScore
T32 Ron Harvey, Jr. +1 68 77 145
T46 Greg Machtaler +3 76 71 147
T46 Daniel Summerhays +3 73 74 147
T66 Jared Overton +8 78 74 152
T79 Oscar Alvarez +11 78 77 155