Cougars in fourth as darkness delays Arizona Intercollegiate

BYU men’s golf sits in fourth place after the second round of the Arizona Invitational was suspended due to darkness at the Tucson Country Club, Monday.

“We played some good golf today,” said head coach Bruce Brockbank. "We were a little bit sloppy at times and made a few too many mistakes, but that’s part of January golf. We hope to clean up a few things tomorrow as we are in a good spot going into the last 24 holes.”

BYU is 18-shots off the lead held by the No. 24 Arizona who sits at 25-under par through 30-holes. No. 37 New Mexico is 11-back of the Wildcats at 14-under par, followed by No. 5 Arkansas at 12-under par and the Cougars at 7-under.

Through 30-holes Carson Lundell leads the way for BYU shooting a 3-under par 69 in the opening round and 1-under through 12-holes of the second round which puts him at 4-under for the tournament in a tie for ninth. Cole Ponich turned it on after a 1-over par opening 18, making four birdies in his first six holes of round two. He sits in a tie for 16th at 3-under par.

“Our team is very committed to improving our mental toughness and I saw some progress today,” said BYU director of golf Todd Miller. “We got off to a poor start in the second round but the guys fought back and are moving back up the leader board. We hope to come out and shoot some low scores tomorrow.”

Tyson Shelley is the third Cougar inside the top-25 through 30-holes after a 2-under opening round and an even par first 12-holes of round two.

Elijah Turner finds himself in a tie for 50th after a 2-over 74 in round one and going even par through the beginning of his second round. Max Brenchley fired a five-over opening round and sits at 4-over in the second round heading into Tuesday morning.

“There were some real bright spots and a few low spots on the first day which equals a typical day on the golf course,” said BYU volunteer assistant Daniel Summerhays. “I thought the guys battled really hard today and put themselves in a good position for a good finish tomorrow with 24 holes to play and lots of birdies still to be made.”

BYU will tee off at 9 a.m. MST to finish the last six holes of their second round and will begin the final round immediately following the conclusion of round two. Live scoring will be available at golfstat.com