Men’s golf in fifth after darkness delays round two at N.I.T.

BYU men’s golf is in fifth place after play for the day on Monday at the N.I.T. at OMNI Tucson National Golf Club was concluded by darkness.

Keanu AkinaKeanu Akina

TUCSON, Arizona – BYU men’s golf is in fifth place after play for the day on Monday at the N.I.T. at OMNI Tucson National Golf Club was concluded by darkness. The Cougars carded a round-one score of 278, 10-under-par, with 20 team birdies and an eagle from Max Brenchley. 

“Through 32 holes, our team has made 42 birdies and two eagles,” said Director of Golf Todd Miller. “The guys are hitting plenty of great shots, but we’ve been throwing a lot of those away with double bogeys. I am confident that we will improve as a team each round and move up the leaderboard on the final day of competition.”

Due to the darkness, round two will be completed prior to moving into continuous play for round three on Tuesday morning. 

Junior Zac Jones is tied for fourth at nine-under-par after a first-round scorecard of 65 at seven-under-par, with eight holes to play in the second. 

“We had a solid day today. We have been preparing really hard and making the sacrifices necessary to have a good day,” said Z. Jones.

“I started the day off hot with a hole-out birdie from the bunker on my first hole. I played really good the first 18. My irons were good, my wedges were perfect flight, and my spin control was really good, too. I was still playing pretty well in the second round; I just couldn’t get putts to drop like they did in the first round.”

Keanu Akina currently sits in the top ten at seven under, with a round-one score of 70. Peter Kim is in 40th after carding a round one score of 71, with Brenchley right behind at even-par in a tie for 48th. Cooper Jones rounds out the Cougar squad in a tie for 64th at one-over-par. 

The remaining holes of round two will tee off Tuesday morning at 9:30 a.m. MT, followed by continuous play into round three. Live scoring can be found at Smart Golf.