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Cougars In Second After Opening Day Of Ping Cougar Classic
The No. 12 BYU men's golf team wrapped up the first two rounds in second place with a 32-under-par 544, one stroke behind Fresno State (543).
April 22, 2005 PROVO, Utah -- The opening day of the PING Cougar Classic brought with it loads of excitement as the No. 12 BYU men's golf team wrapped up the first two rounds in second place with a 32-under-par 544, one stroke behind Fresno State (543). The Cougars shot an opening-round 273, followed by a sizzling second-round 271, their second lowest score this season. Defending Classic champion Colorado State had a rough start with a first-round 284, but exploded in the second round with a 267, moving into third place just seven strokes back of the Cougars. "We did really good just being steady," said BYU head coach Bruce Brockbank. "It's been a big week for these boys with finals and all, but they came out and played great golf." Junior Oscar Alvarez and sophomore Nick Becker led the Cougars' attack, each finishing the opening two rounds in second place with a 10-under-par 134, four strokes behind the leader Fresno's Mark Modglin (130). Alvarez, ranked 33rd in the nation, tied a season-low 65 in the first round, followed by a second-round 69. Becker finished the first round at 70 and turned up the heat with a second-round career-low 64, just one stroke shy of the tournament record (63) set by former BYU All-American Andy Miller in 2000. Despite struggling off the tees, Becker performed masterfully on the greens to earn his career-best round. "It's been a long time since that's happened," Becker said. "The cup felt like a trash can. I'd stand over the putt, and I felt like it would go. When I looked up, it was going in." Seniors Ron Havery, Jr. and Greg Machtaler rounded off BYU's team score in the second round. Harvey finished day one in a ninth-place tie with a 7-under-par 137, followed by Machtaler in a 20th-place tie with a 4-under-par 140. Sophomore Jake Ellison was BYU's fifth golfer, finishing in a 48th-place tie with an even-par 144. The Cougars' second team, the blue team, finished the opening day in 14th place at 578. Senior Chris Graham led the blue team with a ninth-place finish at 137, while sophomore Clay Ogden finished in 23rd place at 141. Juniors Shaun Wurtz (152) and Greg Hunt (153) and senior Todd Miller (154) wrapped up the Cougars' day. "It's our home tournament, so there's always pressure," Alvarez said. "If we can win tomorrow, that would definitely help us going into the conference championship." BYU looks to continue its momentum going into the final round tomorrow at the Riverside Country Club tomorrow at 8:30 a.m.
TEAM SCORES
1 Fresno State 272 271 543 -33
2 Brigham Young Univ. 273 271 544 -32
3 Colorado State Univ. 284 267 551 -25
4 San Diego State U. 275 280 555 -21
5 UC Davis 284 280 564 -12
6 Northern Colorado 276 289 565 -11
7 Weber State Univ. 285 282 567 -9
8 Denver, U. of 282 286 568 -8
Southern Utah Univ. 285 283 568 -8
10 Hawaii, Univ. of 288 282 570 -6
11 Texas El Paso, U. of 291 283 574 -2
12 Nevada, Univ. of 294 281 575 -1
Wyoming, U. of 294 281 575 -1
14 BYUB 291 287 578 +2
15 Boise State Univ. 292 288 580 +4
16 Ferris State U. 295 286 581 +5
17 Air Force Academy 292 290 582 +6
18 Utah, Univ. of 292 291 583 +7
19 Utah State Univ. 293 291 584 +8
20 Utah Valley State 293 294 587 +11
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