SANTEE, Calif. – Behind a second-round 66 from sophomore Rhett Rasmussen, No. 40 BYU men's golf moved from seventh to second place after Tuesday's second round of the 2018 West Coast Conference Golf Championships held at Carlton Oaks Golf Club.
"We definitely turned it around today," BYU head coach Bruce Brockbank said. "We needed some guys to step up after yesterday, and Rhett (Rasmussen) did just that. He played awesome golf today. Patrick (Fishburn) and CJ (Lee) were also steady coming down the stretch. We had a great team effort today that will give us a shot to win tomorrow."
BYU shot the lowest round (-13) of any team on Tuesday, as four Cougars shot under par. BYU is at -4 going into Wednesday's final round, while No. 33 Pepperdine sits atop the leaderboard at -13. The Waves shot -5 as a team in round two.
Rasmussen shot a sizzling -7 on the back nine with birdies on holes 10, 11, 13, 15 and 16 before finishing with an eagle on 18. He finished the day at -6 and is tied for first place overall.
Patrick Fishburn fired a 69 in round two and is tied for fourth place at -4. The senior played bogey-free golf on the front nine while logging birdies on holes 3, 6, 8 and 9.
After firing 78 in round one, CJ Lee bounced back with a 69 in the second round of the WCC Golf Championships. Lee carded 36 on the back nine before shooting 33 on the front nine. He finished the day with five birdies.
Lee is tied for 19th place at +3 with teammate Spencer Dunaway. Dunaway birdied four holes in round two on Tuesday to post a 71 (-1) for the day.
Peter Kuest is in 44th place at +15. He shot +6 on Tuesday.
The Cougars will compete in the third and final round of the 2018 WCC Golf Championships on Wednesday. BYU men's golf will begin third-round play at 9:40 a.m. PST. Follow the Cougars live via links to live stats on the BYU men's golf schedule page.
The WCC Conference Champion will receive an automatic bid to one of the 2018 NCAA Division I Regional tournaments.
2018 WCC Golf Championships - April 16-17, 2018
| Place | Player | Round 1 | Round 2 | Total | To-Par |
| T1 | Rhett Rasmussen | 72 | 66 | 138 | -6 |
| T4 | Patrick Fishburn | 71 | 69 | 140 | -4 |
| T19 | CJ Lee | 78 | 69 | 147 | +3 |
| T19 | Spencer Dunaway | 76 | 71 | 147 | +3 |
| 44 | Peter Kuest | 81 | 78 | 159 | +15 |
| Place | Team | Round 1 | Round 2 | Total | To-Par |
| 1 | Pepperdine | 280 | 283 | 563 | -13 |
| 2 | BYU | 297 | 275 | 572 | -4 |
| 3 | Saint Mary's | 282 | 296 | 578 | +2 |
| 4 | Santa Clara | 290 | 291 | 581 | +5 |
| 5 | San Francisco | 290 | 295 | 585 | +9 |
| 6 | LMU | 292 | 294 | 586 | +10 |
| 7 | Gonzaga | 292 | 295 | 587 | +11 |
| 8 | San Diego | 302 | 290 | 592 | +16 |
| 9 | Pacific | 300 | 297 | 597 | +21 |