TEMPE -- With renewed determination coming off a difficult 10th-place finish in Texas earlier in the week, the No. 8 BYU men's golf team came out strong in the opening two rounds of the ASU Thunderbird Invitational as they finished the day in sixth place at seven over par.
Mountain West Conference rival No. 2 UNLV leads the field in first place (563) followed by Pepperdine in second (569). The Cougars (575) trail No. 17 Arizona and Colorado State by one stroke (574) and defending tournament champion No. 15 Arizona State by two strokes (573).
Senior Greg Machtaler, junior Oscar Alvarez and sophomore Nick Becker led the Cougars' attack in the opening day. Machtaler finished the first two rounds at even par and in a tie for 12th place followed by Alvarez and Becker, who both finished in a 19th-place tie at one over par.
After an uncharacteristic performance just days earlier in Texas, No. 16 Machtaler returned to his normal self, shooting a pair of 71s in the opening rounds of the ASU Invitational.
No. 31 Alvarez got off to a great start the first round as he recorded the team's best score of the day (68). However, he ran into trouble in the second round as he shot a 4-over-par 75. Becker, who has become a consistent force for the Cougars recently, opened the day with two consistent rounds of 71 and 72.
Sophomore Jake Ellison rounded off the Cougars team score in 41st place with a 5-over-par 147. Senior Ron Harvey, Jr. finished the day in 52nd place at seven over par, marking the first time since the John A. Burns Intercollegiate in Hawaii that Harvey hasn't improved on his first-round score (73-76).
Senior Todd Miller, who is playing as an individual at this year's tournament, finished the opening two rounds in 71st place at 11 over par.
The Cougars look to make up ground on the leader board tomorrow in hope of taking home their third tournament championship this season.
ASU Karsten Golf Course -- Par 71 -- 7,025 yards
TEAM RESULTS
1. UNLV (2) 274-289--563 (-5)
2. Pepperdine (44) 285-284--569 (+1)
3. Arizona St. (15) 286-287--573 (+5)
T4. Arizona (17) 282-292--574 (+6)
T4. Colorado St. (67) 285-289--574 (+6)
6. BYU (8) 282-293--575 (+7)
7. Texas Tech (29) 288-289--577 (+9)
8. UCLA (11) 290-289--579 (+11)
9. Oregon (73) 295-286--581 (+13)
10. Penn St. (85) 297-287--584 (+16)
11. Stanford (55) 292-298--590 (+22)
12. California (66) 297-296--593 (+25)
13. Kansas St. (61) 300-295--595 (+27)
T14. Hawaii (97) 301-295--596 (+28)
T14. Arizona St. Maroon 293-303--596 (+28)
- Through 36 holes, 18 holes remaining
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
T12. Greg Machtaler 71-71--142 (E)
T19. Oscar Alvarez 68-75--143 (+1)
T19. Nick Belker 71-72--143 (+1)
T41. Jake Ellison 72-75--147 (+5)
T52. Ron Harvey, Jr. 73-76--149 (+7)
T71. Todd Miller* 78-75--153 (+11)
* Competing as an individual