Golfers Steadily Improve

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (Sept. 20. 2008) – The Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational came to a close on Saturday as the BYU women’s golf team displayed gradual improvement over the course of the three-day tournament.

The Cougars effectively cut down the number of strokes in each round by two, finishing each round at +17, +15 and +13 to end the competition at +45, good for 10th place in the field of 16 teams.

“We did well today,” said head coach Sue Nyhus. “We played better everyday and we’re making progress. Although we’re not clicking on all cylinders, we’re a young team with talent and played well against strong competition.”

Freshman Maggie Yuan showed off her capabilities by ending play at +11 in a tie for the No. 35 individual ranking. She made a birdie on Hole 7 and finished the day at +3 76.

Sophomore Jade Bollinger was consistent throughout the tournament finishing rounds two and three at +3 76 and +11 overall for a tie at No. 35.

Senior leader Natalia Jimenez struggled in round three but was able to birdie holes 1 and 18. She completed the field in a tie for No. 39 at +12.

The traveling team is put together according to performance in practice and different qualifying tournaments to see where the golfers score and determine who is playing the best golf.

Shayla Forsey and Sara Romero also competed for the Cougars while junior Camille Gardner played individually on the side.

“I’m enjoying working with the team,” Nyhus said. “This course has big, tough greens and we weren’t able to practice too much for it, but we played better each day and I’m excited for our future tournaments.”

The field
New Mexico         1      -4
Pepperdine         2       E
UNLV               3     +13
UC Davis           4     +18
Colorado State     5     +22
Colorado           6     +23
Campbell           7     +29
Texas              8     +32
Indiana            9     +38
Brigham Young      10    +45
TCU                11    +46
Wyoming            12    +51
San Diego State    13    +53
New Mexico State   14    +56
UTEP               15    +70
Hawaii             16    +74
BYU +45 (309-307-305--921)
T35  M. Yuan         81-73-76--230  +11
T35  J. Bollinger    78-76-76--230  +11
T39  N. Jimenez      77-77-77--231  +12
T47  S. Forsey       76-81-76--233  +14
T84  S. Romero       78-82-86--246  +27
T81  C. Gardner*     80-83-81--244  +25
*Golfing independently