TEMPE -- BYU's 17-ranked men's golf team ended the first day of the 2007 NCAA West Regional tied for 13th place on Thursday at the Karsten Golf Course.
The Cougars got off to a good start as true freshman Robbie Fillmore chipped in for an eagle on 10, senior Clay Ogden eagled 14 and junior Daniel Summerhays had back-to-back birdies on 13 and 14. BYU was 10-under-par with three holes to go, but lost a few strokes coming in and finished at 5-under-par and tied for thirteenth.
"We weren't able to keep our momentum today," said head coach Bruce Brockbank, "We missed several makeable putts and left a lot of shots out there. The key tomorrow is to capitalize on our good iron shots, and sink some more putts."
Fillmore, a Salt Lake City native, led the Cougars with a four-under-par 68. He eagled his first hole and birdied four others to finish tied for 12th place individually.
"I gave myself a lot of birdie opportunities today," said Fillmore, "I hit my driver as good as I have ever hit it, leaving myself in good positions to approach the green. Several easy birdies let me turn in a solid round."
Senior Clay Ogden, who led the Cougars at last year's regionals, shot a one-under-par 71 to finish tied for 55th with 18 other players. The field is tough, as 84 of the 141 players participating shot even-par or better.
Next for the Cougars were all-americans Jake Ellison and Daniel Summerhays turning in an even-par 72 and are tied for 74th. Senior Nick Becker finished three-over-par and is tied for 108th.
"There is still a lot golf to be played," Brockbank said, "Hopefully we can bounce back tomorrow and find a way to shoot a good score."
With just seven strokes separating fifth place from 15th place, the second round will be a key for the Cougars to move up the leaderboard.
Fourth-ranked UCLA has a five shot lead with a 20-under-par 268 after day one. Conference rivals New Mexico and UNLV (No. 6) finished tied for third and tenth respectively. The Cougars will tee off at 6:48 p.m. PST. You can follow the action live on the internet at www.golfstat.com
TEAM RESULTS
1 UCLA 263 -20
2 South Carolina 273 -15
3 Arizona State U. 275 -13
4 New Mexico 275 -13
T5 Stanford University 277 -11
T5 Southern California 277 -11
T5 Pepperdine 277 -11
8 East Tennessee St. 278 -10
9 California, U. of 280 -8
T10 Oregon State U. 281 -7
T10UNLV
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The top 10 teams advance to the Championship
(Ties will be resolved)
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12 Arizona 282 -6
T13Brigham Young Univ. 283 -5
T13Vanderbilt 283 -5
T15Colorado State Univ. 284 -4
T15Augusta State 284 -4
T15Washington 284 -4
T18Denver, U. of 285 -3
T18Wake Forest Univ. 285 -3
20Pennsylvania, U. of 288 E
T21Nevada, Univ. of 289 +1
T21 UC Irvine 289 +1
23Oregon, U. of 292 +4
24San Diego State 296 +8
25Detroit 297 +9
26Bucknell University 299 +11
27Monmouth University 302 +14
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
T12 Robbie Fillmore 68 -4
T55 Clay Ogden 71 -1
T74 Jake Ellison 72 E
T74 Daniel Summerhays 72 E
T108 Nick Becker 75 +3