BYU middle of the pack through 18 holes at NCAA Championship

Cole Ponich hits a shot during round one of the NCAA Championship.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — BYU men’s golf sits in a tie for 16th after posting a 15-over-par 295 in round one of the 2022 NCAA Men’s Golf Championship on Friday at Grayhawk Golf Club.

“We did a lot of really good things today and I’m proud of how the guys battled for every shot,” said BYU head coach Bruce Brockbank. “This is a really difficult golf course that tests every aspect of your golf game and I feel like our guys really responded to the challenge. If we can eliminate some of the big numbers and make a few more putts, we’ll have a chance to be right in the mix when our Thursday round is posted on Sunday.”

To accommodate its longstanding policy of not competing on Sunday, the NCAA made provisions for BYU to play its third round of the championship on Thursday afternoon. That score of 290 will be posted on Sunday along with the scores from the other 29-teams in the field who compete that day.

BYU returned to the course Friday morning, just 12-hours after completing the Thursday afternoon round and posted a first-round score of 290 to tie for 16th with No. 13 ranked Stanford. No. 3 ranked Vanderbilt leads the championship after the first 18-holes with a 2-over-par team total of 282. No. 27 Oregon and No. 17 Auburn are tied for second with a 5-over 285, while No. 25 Kansas and No. 26 Arizona are tied for fourth at 286. The Cougars' 15-over-par opening round puts them 13-shots off the lead and just one shot outside the projected 54-hole cut line.

Cole Ponich and Tyson Shelley fired 3-over 73’s on Friday to sit in a tie for 42nd individually entering Saturday's second round.

“It was great to see Cole and Tyson play well,” said Brockbank. "As young players the nerves can often impact the way you play and both have shown maturity beyond their years.”

NCAA Stockton Regional champion Carson Lundell made three birdies on his way to carding a first-round 74 and is tied for 62nd, while David Timmins recorded a 75 and Max Brenchley posted a 76 to round out the scoring for the Cougars.

BYU will tee off with North Florida and Liberty on Saturday at 12:47 p.m PDT in round two. Live scoring will be available at golfstat.com.

Individual Leaderboard

Place	Player	R1	Total	To Par
T-42	Cole Ponich	73	73	+3
T-42	Tyson Shelley	73	73	+3
T-62	David Timmins	75	75	+4
T-82	David Timmins	75	75	+5
T-101	Max Brenchley	76	76	+6

Team Leaderboard (Top 5)

Place	Team	R1	Total	To Par
1st	No. 3 Vanderbilt	282	282	+2
T-2	No. 27 Oregon	285	285	+5
T-2	No. 17 Auburn	285	285	+5
T-4	No. 25 Kansas	286	286	+6
T-4	No. 26 Arizona	286	286	+6
T-16	No. 41 BYU	295	295	+15