TUCSON, Ariz. -- Looking to improve on a fourth-place finish in 2010, the BYU men's golf team opened play at the Mountain West Conference Championships Thursday in Tucson, Ariz., shooting a 283 (-1) and moving into a tie for second place.
Zac Blair, Cameron Edens and Adam Tebbs each moved into the top-10 after day one to help put the Cougars just five strokes behind leader San Diego State.
"It was a nice team effort today," said BYU head coach Bruce Brockbank. "We started off a little slow, but the guys hung in there and started making putts, and that will keep us in contention."
The OMNI Tucson National Golf Course plays host to this year's championships. Ideal weather on day one combined with smooth greens on the par-71 course.
"The course is as nice as I have ever seen it," Brockbank said. "The weather is perfect and the greens are really fast and smooth."
As has been the case for most of the 2011 season, Blair paced BYU, shooting a 2-under 69 in round one. Blair birdied four of his last nine holes to move into a tie for fifth place.
Cameron Edens and Adam Tebbs are tied for 10th place after first-rounds of 71 (E). Both Edens and Tebbs sunk five birdies on day one.
Esteban Calisto sits tied for 18th while Cole Ogden is tied for 40th after a first-round 77 (+6). Calisto shot an 1-over 72 in the first round.
"It was a good day today," Brockbank said. "There is a lot of golf to play, but if we can get our fifth guy to shoot 72 or lower we will definitely have a chance."
Round two of the MWC Championships begins Friday at 8 a.m. MDT. Follow the action live by clicking HERE or by visiting www.golfstat.com.
The Field - 2011 MWC Championships
1. San Diego State
T2. BYU
T2. TCU
T4. Wyoming
T4. Colorado State
6. UNLV
7. Air Force
8. New Mexico
9. Utah
T2 Brigham Young University -1 283 283
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T5 Zac Blair -2 69 69
T10 Cameron Edens E 71 71
T10 Adam Tebbs E 71 71
T20 Esteban Calisto +1 72 72
T40 Cole Ogden +6 77 77