Cougars in Second After First Round at MWC Tourney

SEASIDE -- After one round of play at the Mountain West Conference Championships, the BYU women’s golf team sits tied for second place with TCU at 17-over-par 305.

“We were mildly surprised,” said BYU head coach Sue Nyhus. “We thought we had played a mediocre round and weren’t sure how we’d finish, but then everyone came down a bit, so that’s how we ended up with our mark. It took an interesting turn.”

Under cold and windy weather conditions, sophomore Jade Bollinger played a solid opening round as she finished in third place overall in the field of 35 golfers at 1-over-par 73. She made a team-high three birdies on the day along with 11 holes made at par.

Natalia Jimenez and Maggie Yuan are tied for tenth place overall at 4-over-par 76. Jimenez ended up with two birdies in the round and scored ten holes at even-par, while Yuan had one birdie on par-4 hole 16 and scored 12 holes at par. Six of those came on consecutive holes on the back nine of the par-72 Black Horse Golf Course.

Sophomore Sara Romero played an 8-over first round and is currently tied for 23rd overall after she made 12 holes at par on the day. Junior Shayla Forsey shot an 11-over first round as she finished the opening round with eight holes played at even-par.

New Mexico leads the field of seven teams at 13-over-par, four strokes ahead of the pack. UNLV is in fourth place just one stroke behind at 18-over.

Round two begins at 8:30 a.m. MT and can be followed on www.themwc.com or golfstat.com.

“We hope to keep the momentum going on Friday,” Nyhus said.

2009 MWC Women's Golf Championships
BYU  T2/7  +17  305
T3  Bollinger  73  +1
T10 Jimenez    76  +4
T10 Yuan       76  +4
T23 Romero     80  +8
33  Forsey     83  +11
The field
1  New Mexico      301  +13
T2 TCU             305  +17
T2 BYU             305  +17
4  UNLV            306  +18
5  Wyoming         309  +21
6  San Diego State 312  +24
7  Colorado State  314  +26