Ponich leads WCC Championship after 18-holes, BYU in fourth

HENDERSON, Nev. — BYU men’s golf sits in fourth place after the first round of the West Coast Conference Championship at Reflection Bay Golf Club, Thursday.

“Playing in 20-to-30 mile per hour winds seems to be the new norm for us,” said BYU director of golf Todd Miller. “Reflection Bay was a very technical golf course today with firm greens and heavy winds which required us to be locked in all day long.”

No. 6 ranked Pepperdine (288) is tied at the top with LMU (288) at even par after 18-holes and hold just a one-shot advantage over the San Diego Toreros (289). The Cougars (291) are three-shots off the day-one lead with San Francisco (292) rounding out the top-5 at 4-over-par.

BYU’s Cole Ponich (69) is tied at the top of the leaderboard with Riley Lewis (69) of LMU at 3-under-par. Ponich jumped out to a hot start, birdieing three of his first four holes on his way to posting a bogey free front nine. An even-par back nine gave him a share of the first-round lead,

“Cole’s 3-under 69 today was really impressive,” said Miller. “He got off to a quick start with those three early birdies. The wind howled all day, but Cole was locked in, making some great pars down the stretch to hold on to the first-round lead.”

David Timmins sits in a tie for 11th after an even par opening round. Timmins was 2-over-par when he made the turn but proceeded to make three-straight birdies to get under par early in his second nine. The senior made two bogeys and a par down the stretch to put him in the top-11 going into round two.

PING Cougar Classic champion Carson Lundell and U.S. Open Regional Qualifier Max Brenchley both posted a 3-over opening round and sit just outside the top-25 in a tie for 27th going into the second round. Tyson Shelley rounded out the day one scoring for the Cougars with a 78 and sits in a tie for 39th.

“We get to tee off a little earlier than the leaders tomorrow which should give us a great opportunity to shoot a low score,” said Miller.

BYU tees off tomorrow at 7:50 a.m. PDT in a paring with Santa Clara and San Francisco for round two of the WCC Championship. Live scoring is available at golfstat.com and live updates will be posted on the BYU men’s golf Instagram account.

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