Timmins leads the way for Cougars at U.S. Amateur Championship

PARAMUS, N.J. — BYU’s David Timmins fired an even-par opening round that put him in a tie for 19th as he leads a group of four Cougars into the second round of stroke-play qualifying at the 122nd U.S. Amateur Championship.

“This was one of my better ball-striking rounds I’ve had in a while,” said Timmins “I have never played a course with rough this long, so to stay out of it most of the day putt me in a good position to hit greens and post a solid first round score. I’m excited to get after it again tomorrow.”

Chris Francoeur, Luke Gutschewski, Hazen Newman, Campbell Kremer and Michael Thorbjornsen each hold a share of the lead after 18-holes at 3-under par.

After going 2-over through his first eight holes, Timmins rattled off five straight pars before holing out from 133-yards on the par-4 14th hole. The hole-out eagle vaulted Timmins back up the leaderboard where he sits in a tie for 19th heading into tomorrow’s final round of stroke-play qualifying.

Carson Lundell sits in a tie for 52nd after one round which puts him inside the 64-player match play field for the moment.

“It was really a grind out there today because Ridgewood is a long course with extremely thick, penalizing rough,” said Lundell. “I hit a lot of good tee shots today, but many of them just caught the edge of the rough which put me in an extremely difficult position to even make par.

The senior from Alpine began his day with a birdie at the par-4 1st hole before a few hiccups dropped him to 3-over through 12. A birdie on the par-3 15th bumped him back to 2-over where he sits entering day two.

“Having only hit three or four fairways, I am happy with how I fought to make par and I feel good going into Arcola tomorrow,” said Lundell. “Hopefully I can find a few more fairways tomorrow and put myself in a position to shoot a low number and make match play.”

Brock Goyen finished one shot back of Lundell and sits just outside the match play number in a tie for 78th after the 18-holes.

“I had one hiccup on the fourth hole that cost me, but other than that I played good,” said Goyen. “Arcola was playing tough, but I knew that if I kept calm and played my game, I could shoot a score that would put me in position for tomorrow.”

Elijah Turner posted an opening 78 to round out the day for the Cougars at the U.S. Amateur Championship.

The Cougars will be back on the course for round two as they chase a spot in the 64-man match play field. Turner will lead things off at 7:10 EDT at Arcola Country Club followed by Lundell at 7:52 and Timmins at 8:13. Goyen will be the lone BYU player to tee it up at Ridgewood Country Club tomorrow as he’ll begin his second round at 12:57.