Fatigued Cougars Fall in Final Round of Bruin Classic

MENIFEE -- After two solid rounds of golf, the BYU women's golf team struggled in the third and final round of play as it carded a 35-over 323 to finish 11th at the Pioneer Electronics Bruin Golf Classic, Tuesday.

"Yesterday was a long day of golf, and today seemed even longer," said head coach Sue Nyhus. "We are a very tired team right now."

Despite the Cougars' struggles, All-American Carrie Summerhays played her best round of the tournament in shooting two-over par (74) to finish in a tie for 22nd. After carding a career-low even-par 72 to tie for fourth after the first round, freshman Nicole Newren faded with rounds of 77 and 82 to finish in a tie for 33rd.

No. 20 Pepperdine was the runaway team champion with a three-round total of 876 (+12), to finish 25 shots ahead of second place UCLA. Katherine Hull of Pepperdine took the individual crown aided by a tournament-low final round of 64 (-8).

"We're starting to come out of the winter blues," Nyhus said. "But we need to snap out of it rather quickly, or our post-season chances will be jeopardized."

Overall the Cougars shot 79-over par (943) at the tournament hosted by UCLA. BYU has now finished 11th in both its spring tournaments.

BYU will return to home for two weeks, before traveling to play in the Nike/Duck Invitational in Lebanon, Ore., March 28-29, hosted by the University of Oregon.

BYU Individual Scores
t22  Carrie Summerhays      BYU     78-75-74=227   +11			
t36  Natalie Newren         BYU     72-77-82=231   +15
t62  Lisa Dernick-Hardy     BYU     78-78-84=240   +24
t77  Jessica Gardner        BYU     83-83-83=249   +33
t81  Nicole Newren          BYU     85-79-87=251   +35
   
Fin.    School                   Scores
1      Pepperdine U.            297-295-284=876   +12
2      UCLA                     299-297-305=901   +37
3      New Mexico, U. of        305-301-302=908   +44	
       Oklahoma, U. of          303-295-310=908   +44
5      San Francisco, U. of     304-304-303=911   +47
6      San Diego State U.       307-302-306=915   +51
7      California, U. of        302-305-310=917   +53
8      Oregon, U. of            307-310-308=925   +61
9      UNLV                     312-305-313=930   +66
10     UC -- Irvine              308-314-312=934   +70
11     Brigham Young Univ.      311-309-323=943   +79
12     CSU - Northridge         310-318-316=944   +80
13     Long Beach State         324-312-314=950   +86
14     Colorado, U. of          313-317-322=952   +88
15     Washington State U.      330-321-309=960   +96
16     Portland State U.        325-336-316=977   +113