FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – BYU men’s golf carded a 10-over par total in round two to sit in third place on Tuesday at the Blessings Collegiate Invitational at Blessings Golf Club.
“We are hitting plenty of good shots and making enough putts to be in contention,” said director of golf Todd Miller. “Arkansas, who leads the tournament, has only made four more birdies than us, but they are 15 shots ahead. Double and triple bogeys have kept us out of the lead this week. I would like to see us play a little cleaner tomorrow.”
Host Arkansas (293-289–582) shot 1-over par on day two en route to a seven-shot advantage with 18 holes to play. The Razorbacks have four players in the top 10. Louisville (299-290–589) sits in second place after posting a 2-over-par total in round two. The Cougars (299-298–597) sit in third at 21-over, three shots ahead of Kansas State (301-299–600), which holds fourth alone at 24-over par. Missouri (306-295–601), who jumped three spots into fifth, rounds out the top five at a total 25-over par.
BYU struggled on the opening nine on consecutive days, but found its groove on the inward nine. The Cougars shot 160 on the front nine on day one, followed by a 139 on the inward nine, an 11-shot improvement. In the second round, BYU posted a 151 on the front and 147 on the back side, an improvement of four strokes.
“Statistically, I believe the back nine plays a little bit tougher than the front,” said Miller. “We have definitely played much better on the back nine because we have avoided the deep bunkers. If we can hit a few more fairways on the front nine tomorrow, you will see a better team score.”
Simon Kwon (71-73–144) maintained a share of first place after he shot 1-over par on the day for a total of even par for the tournament. The senior eagled the 580-yard par-5 5th hole, which puts him at two total eagles to lead the event. Kwon carded two birdies to go along with his eagle to post a second-round 73.
Peter Kim (77-72–149) is tied for 18th after shooting even par on the day to move to 5-over through 36 holes. Kim was one of 12 players in the field to post a round of even par or better on day two, thanks to four birdies, the most by a Cougar player on the day.
Freshman Kihei Akina (73-78–151) shot 6-over par on Tuesday to sit in a tie for 22nd through 36 holes.
Tyson Shelley (78-75–153) rose seven spots on the leaderboard to sit in a tie for 28th after a 3-over-par day. Shelley was able to be bogey-free on the front nine in round two.
Parker Bunn (86-79–165) sits in 54th after posting a 7-over total on day two.
On Wednesday, the Cougars will be back for the final round and tee off at 8:30 a.m. MST. Follow the live scoring on Scoreboard.