STANFORD, Calif. — No. 24 BYU men’s golf recorded a 5-under par 275 in round one of The Goodwin to hold a share of fourth at Stanford Golf Course Thursday.
“Stanford Golf Course is a championship style course,” director of golf Todd Miller said. “If you miss fairways, it’s tough to make par. Even though we didn’t putt great today as a team, the guys hung in there and shot a respectable score considering the conditions.”
Host Stanford carded an 11-under-par 269 on its home course to be in the lead through 18 holes. In addition, The Cardinal had three players finish the round in the top-10. Long Beach State concluded the day one stroke behind Stanford with a 10-under par 270. New Mexico posted a 9-under 271 on its way to sitting in third. Cal and SMU concluded Thursday in a three-way tie with the Cougars for fourth to round out the top-5.
Kihei Akina was the top-performer as he posted a 4-under-par 66 to put himself tied for sixth. Akina birdied six of his final 10 holes of the day to climb inside the top-10 of the field.
"Stanford is a great golf course, and it has alot of character," Akina said. "The course got pretty firm and fast. I thought I managed to finish strong with not having my best stuff the rest of the day."
“Kihei stayed patient knowing his game would produce some birdies, and it did,” Miller said. “He’s made some great putts down the stretch.”
Simon Kwon and Peter Kim matched each other with a 1-under-par 69 for a share of 28th.
Angus Klintworth finished day one tied for 59th with a 1-over-par 71.
Tyson Shelley recorded a 5-over-par 75 to sit tied for 122nd.
"Tomorrow we need to hit a few more fairways and be a little more conservative when we are in trouble,” Miller said. “The course usually plays a shot or two easier in the morning, so I believe we can have a great round tomorrow.”
"We will try to take that momentum into tomorrow," Akina said. "We know we can go and put out a low score in prime morning conditions tomorrow."
The Cougars tee off the second round on Friday at 9:05 a.m. MDT. Follow live scoring on Scoreboard, with live updates on Instagram and X.