TUSCON -- Coming off its first tournament victory of the season at last weekend’s Cougar Classic, the BYU men’s golf team played its way to a tie for fifth place after one round at the Mountain West Conference Championships.
The Cougars are tied with Utah and nationally ranked Colorado State at 7-over-par at the par-71 Omni Tuscon National Golf Course.
“It was a pretty good day for us, but we were kind of sluggish and tight the whole time,” said BYU head coach Bruce Brockbank. “We were doing okay until the final holes and we lost four strokes from missed putts. We hung in there, though, so hopefully we keep moving forward.”
Brady Johnson continues to play consistent golf with a 1-under 70 first round score and is currently tied for seventh place in the field of 45 golfers. He had a team-high three birdies on the day and played a solid back nine with two birdies and seven holes made at par.
“Brady has been very consistent for us,” Brockbank said. “The team is still in okay shape to make a run, but we’ve got to make the shots that count most.”
Close behind is senior Nick Killpack, who finished in 12th place at 1-over-par. He made two birdies on the front nine and closed the round with the final seven holes completed at par.
Robbie Fillmore also played a solid front nine by making eight of the holes at par along with a birdie on par-4 hole nine, finishing the round at 3-over-par. Jordan Rodgers scored a team-high 14 holes at par, while Esteban Calisto made one birdie and ended the round with five consecutive holes at par.
“We have some ground to make up and we know we need to shoot better scores to have a chance to win,” Brockbank said. “We know we’re capable; we just need to make it happen.”
The tournament will continue Friday morning at 8:00 a.m. and can be followed on golfstat.com.
The 2009 MWC Men's Golf Championships
1 (17) TCU -8
2 (22) San Diego State -1
3 (37) New Mexico E
4 (34) UNLV +5
T5 (32) Colorado State +7
T5 BYU +7
T5 Utah +7
8 Air Force +9
9 Wyoming +11
BYU
T7 Johnson 70 -1
T12 Killpack 72 +1
T31 Fillmore 74 +3
T34 Rodgers 75 +4
44 Calisto 79 +8