PROVO, Utah - Tied for second place individually, Patrick Fishburn and Austen Christiansen led BYU to the top of the leaderboard after the first day at the PING Cougar Classic on Monday.
"It was good to see us have a great day today," BYU head coach Bruce Brockbank said. "There are some good teams in this tournament, and they will come out tomorrow and put some pressure on us. I am excited that the guys have the chance to have the lead. We are excited to see how we can finish tomorrow."
After 36 holes of play Monday, the Cougars lead all 10 teams at 22 under. BYU is ahead of second-place Washington State (-9) by 13 strokes. In-state schools Utah, Utah State, Dixie State and Southern Utah finished in fourth, seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively.
BYU shot a total team score of 274, the lowest of all competing teams in the first round of play. As a team, the Cougars birdied 39 holes and eagled one hole through 36 holes of play. Three of the seven BYU competitors sit in the top 10 after day one.
Fishburn tallied a team- and player-low 66 (-6) through the first 18 holes of play. The sophomore sank eight birdied putts in round one. In the second round, Fishburn carded a 71 to shoot a total of 137 for the day finishing at one-under-par.
Christiansen also finished the day at one-under-par. The freshman shot a 68 (-4) through the first 18 holes and shot 69 in the second round.
Playing as an individual, Tommy Higham is tied for seventh place after day one. Higham sits at five under for the day, shooting four under in the first round. Teammate Zach Pritchard shot 1-under-par in round one and shot 68 in round two. The sophomore is tied for 12th place at two under.
Shooting four under through the first 18 holes, eagling the 13th hole, Spencer Dunaway is currently tied for 12th (-2) after Monday's rounds.
The final round will tee off on Tuesday st 8:30 a.m. MDT at the Riverside Golf Club. Live stats will be available on the BYU schedule page. Admission is free to the public and fans are encouraged to attend.
TEAM
| Place | Team | Round 1 | Round 2 | Strokes | To Par |
| 1 | BYU | 274 | 280 | 554 | -22 |
| 2 | Washington State | 287 | 280 | 567 | -9 |
| 3 | Wyoming | 288 | 283 | 571 | -5 |
| 4 | Utah | 277 | 295 | 572 | -4 |
| 5 | Pacific | 283 | 291 | 574 | -2 |
| 6 | Colorado State | 289 | 287 | 576 | E |
| 7 | Utah State | 288 | 291 | 579 | +3 |
| 8 | Dixie State | 287 | 293 | 580 | +4 |
| 9 | Southern Utah | 293 | 295 | 588 | +12 |
| 10 | Westminster College | 298 | 305 | 603 | +27 |
PLAYER
| Place | Player | Round 1 | Round 2 | Strokes | To Par |
| T2 | Austen Christiansen | 68 | 69 | 137 | -7 |
| T2 | Patrick Fishburn | 66 | 71 | 137 | -7 |
| T7 | Tommy Higham* | 68 | 71 | 139 | -5 |
| T12 | Zach Pritchard | 74 | 68 | 142 | -2 |
| T12 | Spencer Dunaway | 68 | 74 | 142 | -2 |
| T12 | Preston Alder* | 73 | 69 | 142 | -2 |
| T24 | CJ Lee | 72 | 72 | 144 | E |
*Competing individually