Cougars hold a big lead at the Ben Hogan Cougar Classic

Provo, Utah --BYU's men's golf team shot 30-under-par after two rounds to hold a 22 shot lead heading into Saturday's third and final round at the Ben Hogan Cougar Classic.

BYU was led by sophomore Manuel Merizalde who shot a sizzling 66-66--132 to hold a five stroke lead over teammate Scott Miller who shot a 70-67--137. Merizalde's nailed putt after putt and sank a bunker shot on the eighteenth hole.

"Manuel stepped up and set the pace for us today," BYU head coach Bruce Brockbank said. "I was hoping we could do this today and we did it. We've shot a lot of good scores at Riverside this year and for us to do that in big tournament says a lot about the character of these guys."

Individually, the Cougars hold the top three spots and four of the top six spots after two rounds. Senior Andy Miller is in third place after shooting 69-69--138 and senior Jose Garrido's two round 138 puts him in sixth place overall.

Brockbank credits team depth as the reason for the Cougars success.

"When your sixth man (Scott Miller) can shoot low enough scores to be in second place after two rounds, you know we've got depth," Brockbank said. "I don't have to motivate these guys. That's the beautiful thing about depth. Andy wants to come back tomorrow and beat Manuel, Jose wants to come back and challenge Scott. Everybody's very competitive on the team and that's the reason why we have been so successful."

Second round action of the Ben Hogan Cougar Classic begin Saturday at 8 a.m. and should finish around 3:30 p.m. at the Riverside Country Club in Provo, Utah.

1. BYU		273-273--546
2. Fresno State	277-291--568
3. New Mexico	282-287--569
4. San Diego St.289-292--581
5. Hawaii		289-293--582
5. Colorado St.	290-292--582
7. Wyoming		286-297--583
7. Air Force	289-294--583
7. Tulsa		296-287--583
10. Utah		295-293--588
11. So. Utah	293-296--589
12. Nevada		296-297--593
13. Weber State	295-301--596
13. Boise State	297-299--596
15. Utah State	314-303--617
1. Manuel Merizalde	BYU			66-66--132
2. Scott Miller		BYU			70-67--137
3. Andy Miller		BYU			69-69--138
4. Michael Letzig	New Mexico		71-68--139
5. Nick Watney		Fresno St.		68-72--140
6. Jose Garrido		BYU			68-73--141
(t) Mike Haack		Nevada		71-70--141
(t) Scott Hailes	New Mexico		70-71--141 
Scott Piercy		SDSU 			69-72--141
10. Mike Louden		Fresno St.		71-71--142
Todd Eaker			Tulsa			72-70--142
Danny Visosky		Air Force 		71-71--142
13. Martin Maritz	Tulsa			72-71--143
Jeff Scohy			Air Force		72-71--143
Luke Sestero		Boise St.		71-72--143
16. Nigel Spence	Colo. St.		74-70--144
(t) Ryan Ellis		Utah			73-71--144
18. Dustin Volk		Weber St.		74-71--145
(t) Wil Collins		New Mexico		70-75--145
(t) Todd Rose		Fresno St.		69-76--145
(t) Darrin Overson	Colo. St.		70-75--145
(t) Tommy Sharp		Colo. St.		73-72--145
(t) Josh Watney		Fresno St.		69-76--145
(t) Norman-Ganin Asao	Hawaii		71-74--145
25. Gregg Oliphant	Utah			74-72--146
(t) Mike Urbatchka	Wyoming		77-69--146
(t) Todd Miller		BYU			75-71--146
(t) Kevin Price		New Mexico		71-75--146
(t) Aaron Hansen	Southern Utah	74-72--146