Rodgers in 2nd, Cougars in 8th after first day
TUCSON, Arizona - Senior Jordan Rodgers' second-place finish led BYU men's golf to a tie in eighth place after the first two rounds of competition at the Arizona Intercollegiate on Monday.
Four teams, including the Cougars, were unable to finish the second round before the sun set, so those individuals will finish at 7:30 a.m. MST on Tuesday.
"There were a lot of good things going on for our team," BYU head coach Bruce Brockbank said. "Jordan Rodgers played really well today, and Zach Pritchard played great in his first college golf tournament. We need to do a better job at finishing the round. I would love to see us go out tomorrow and put our best round together."
BYU shot 11-over-par to end the day in a three-way tie for eigth place with fellow West Coast Conference teams Pacific and Pepperdine. No. 29 Arizona State is in first place, shooting 5-under-par. Loyola Marymount, another WCC team, is in a tie for 14th place (+29).
Rodgers led BYU, shooting four-under-par to get in a tie with Martin Simonsen from UTEP. Both shot 68 in the first 18 holes.
"I just tried to be patient," Rodgers said. "It was kind of windy, so I tried to hit a lot of greens and make a lot of pars. If I made a bogey, I just didn't worry about it and stayed focused. We struggled as a team. We were right there, but we let some shots go. We look forward to going in tomorrow with a great attitude."
Sophomore Zach Pritchard made his BYU golf debut in a strong fashion. He shot two-over-par and came in a tie for 21st after the first day, the second highest on the team.
Shooting six-over-par put junior Tommy Higham in a tie for 48th place. Seniors Cole Ogden and Mike Jurca rounded out the Cougars by finishing the day in ties for 54th and 74th place respectively. Ogden shot seven-over-par and Jurca shot 11-over-par.
The third and final round will begin at 8 a.m. MST on Tuesday at the Sewailo Golf Club. Live stats will be available on the BYU men's golf schedule page.
Arizona Intercollegiate - Jan. 26, 2015
Place | Player | Round 1 | Round 2 | Total |
T2 | Jordan Rodgers | 68 | 70* | -4 |
T21 | Zach Pritchard | 74 | 67* | +2 |
T48 | Tommy Higham | 76 | 64* | +6 |
T54 | Cole Ogden | 75 | 70* | +7 |
T74 | Mike Jurca | 76 | 73* | +11 |
Place | Team | Round 1 | Round 2 | Total |
1 | No. 29 Arizona State | 286 | 277 | 563 |
2 | No. 43 Iowa State | 287 | 268* | 555* |
3 | UTEP | 283 | 275* | 558* |
4 | No. 20 New Mexico | 286 | 284 | 570 |
5 | Arizona | 294 | 278 | 572 |
6 | No. 21 California | 286 | 288 | 574 |
7 | McNeese State | 294 | 283 | 577 |
T8 | Pacific | 288 | 291 | 579 |
T8 | Pepperdine | 299 | 261* | 560* |
T8 | BYU | 293 | 271* | 564* |
11 | No. 48 New Mexico State | 293 | 293 | 586 |
12 | Seattle U. | 293 | 296 | 589 |
13 | Delaware | 302 | 293 | 595 |
T14 | CSU-Fullerton | 299 | 298 | 597 |
T14 | Loyola Marymount | 298 | 299 | 597 |
*Did not complete second round due to lack of sunlight. The second round will finish on Tuesday.