ALBUQUERQUE -- The BYU men’s golf team opened its fall season Friday at the William H. Tucker Invitational, placing sixth with three holes remaining in the second round of play. Friday’s second round was suspended due to lightning and will resume Saturday before the final round.
“We played pretty good most of the day,” said BYU head coach Bruce Brockbank. “We made some silly mistakes towards the end and missed some putts so we fell back a little bit. But we have 21 holes to play tomorrow, and I’m confident we can rebound and continue to play well.”
The Cougars were tied for second with Pepperdine after round one with a total combined score of 287, 1-under-par. Senior Robbie Fillmore led the way with a 3-under-par 69 to tie for sixth after the first 18 holes. The Cougars were +4 overall when round two was halted with Fillmore at 1-under-par through 15 holes to pace BYU.
Fillmore and senior Brady Johnson started the day for BYU with 7:30 a.m. tee times on the fourth hole. The pair also provided the first Cougar birdies of the tournament as both carded a four on the par-five 9th hole. All five players each went 1-under on the par-five 10th hole, and Johnson followed that up with a three on the par-four 11th to cap a string of three straight birdies, vaulting the Cougars momentarily into first place at -2. Fillmore also birdied the 11th during his round as he and Johnson each recorded four birdies to lead the team. In addition to Fillmore’s round-one finish, sophomore Jordan Rodgers was tied for 15th at even par (72) and Johnson was tied for 25th at +1 (73) along with Zach Blair. Alton Anderson posted a 4-over 76 as the non-counting Cougar.
Overall in the first round, the four Cougars whose scores counted went 3-over on the front nine and four under on the back nine. The squad particularly enjoyed making the turn as all five went a combined -9 on the 9th and 10th holes.
Rodgers began the second round stealing a stroke on the par-five 5th hole while Fillmore continued his hot streak on the turn with birdies on the 9th, 10th and 11th holes for the second-straight round. However, the Cougars struggled as darkness approached with no player reaching below par.