PROVO -- The opening day of the PING Cougar Classic brought with it loads of excitement as the No. 12 BYU men's golf team wrapped up the first two rounds in second place with a 32-under-par 544, one stroke behind Fresno State (543).
The Cougars shot an opening-round 273, followed by a sizzling second-round 271, their second lowest score this season. Defending Classic champion Colorado State had a rough start with a first-round 284, but exploded in the second round with a 267, moving into third place just seven strokes back of the Cougars.
"We did really good just being steady," said BYU head coach Bruce Brockbank. "It's been a big week for these boys with finals and all, but they came out and played great golf."
Junior Oscar Alvarez and sophomore Nick Becker led the Cougars' attack, each finishing the opening two rounds in second place with a 10-under-par 134, four strokes behind the leader Fresno's Mark Modglin (130).
Alvarez, ranked 33rd in the nation, tied a season-low 65 in the first round, followed by a second-round 69. Becker finished the first round at 70 and turned up the heat with a second-round career-low 64, just one stroke shy of the tournament record (63) set by former BYU All-American Andy Miller in 2000.
Despite struggling off the tees, Becker performed masterfully on the greens to earn his career-best round.
"It's been a long time since that's happened," Becker said. "The cup felt like a trash can. I'd stand over the putt, and I felt like it would go. When I looked up, it was going in."
Seniors Ron Havery, Jr. and Greg Machtaler rounded off BYU's team score in the second round. Harvey finished day one in a ninth-place tie with a 7-under-par 137, followed by Machtaler in a 20th-place tie with a 4-under-par 140. Sophomore Jake Ellison was BYU's fifth golfer, finishing in a 48th-place tie with an even-par 144.
The Cougars' second team, the blue team, finished the opening day in 14th place at 578. Senior Chris Graham led the blue team with a ninth-place finish at 137, while sophomore Clay Ogden finished in 23rd place at 141. Juniors Shaun Wurtz (152) and Greg Hunt (153) and senior Todd Miller (154) wrapped up the Cougars' day.
"It's our home tournament, so there's always pressure," Alvarez said. "If we can win tomorrow, that would definitely help us going into the conference championship."
BYU looks to continue its momentum going into the final round tomorrow at the Riverside Country Club tomorrow at 8:30 a.m.
TEAM SCORES
1 Fresno State 272 271 543 -33
2 Brigham Young Univ. 273 271 544 -32
3 Colorado State Univ. 284 267 551 -25
4 San Diego State U. 275 280 555 -21
5 UC Davis 284 280 564 -12
6 Northern Colorado 276 289 565 -11
7 Weber State Univ. 285 282 567 -9
8 Denver, U. of 282 286 568 -8
Southern Utah Univ. 285 283 568 -8
10 Hawaii, Univ. of 288 282 570 -6
11 Texas El Paso, U. of 291 283 574 -2
12 Nevada, Univ. of 294 281 575 -1
Wyoming, U. of 294 281 575 -1
14 BYUB 291 287 578 +2
15 Boise State Univ. 292 288 580 +4
16 Ferris State U. 295 286 581 +5
17 Air Force Academy 292 290 582 +6
18 Utah, Univ. of 292 291 583 +7
19 Utah State Univ. 293 291 584 +8
20 Utah Valley State 293 294 587 +11
INDIVIDUAL SCORES
1 Mark Modglin Fresno St. 66 64 130 -14
2 Oscar Alvarez BYU 65 69 134 -10
Nick Belker BYU 70 64 134 -10
4 Tyler Goulding Air Force 69 66 135 -9
5 John Hayes Col. St. 71 65 136 -8
Ryan Carter Fresno St. 68 68 136 -8
Aaron Choi SanDiegoSt 67 69 136 -8
Brian Kelley Fresno St. 67 69 136 -8
9 Kevin McAlpine Col. St. 70 67 137 -7
Andrew Scott SanDiegoSt 70 67 137 -7
Louie Bishop UC Davis 68 69 137 -7
Ron Harvey, Jr. BYU 69 68 137 -7
Chris Graham BYUB 70 67 137 -7
14 Aaron Weston Col. St. 70 68 138 -6
15 Kenny Ebalo So. Utah 68 71 139 -5
Jarett Hamamoto Hawaii 69 70 139 -5
James Love Denver 68 71 139 -5
Tim Knight N.Colorado 68 71 139 -5
Steve Strong UC Davis 71 68 139 -5
20 Greg Machtaler BYU 69 71 140 -4
Gilberto Rodriguez SanDiegoSt 68 72 140 -4
Jimmy Cunningham Denver 71 69 140 -4
23 Cody Wolfenbarger Hawaii 74 67 141 -3
James Allenby UTEP 71 70 141 -3
Ashdon Woods Utah 70 71 141 -3
Clay Ogden BYUB 70 71 141 -3
Tadd Cox UVSC 72 69 141 -3
Jeff Franks Wyoming 72 69 141 -3
Clay Bingham Weber St. 70 71 141 -3
Zac Hildenbrand UTEP 71 70 141 -3
Dan Silva Wyoming 71 70 141 -3
Kurt Owen Weber St. 72 69 141 -3
33 Eric Baily Wyoming 74 68 142 -2
Jay Westerlund UC Davis 71 71 142 -2
Derrick Whiting Col. St. 75 67 142 -2
33 Kyle Mason Ferris St. 72 70 142 -2
Matt Williams Weber St. 70 72 142 -2
Jason Williams Boise St. 70 72 142 -2
Josh Warthen SanDiegoSt 70 72 142 -2
40 Adam Hagen Nevada 74 69 143 -1
Chris Ellis N.Colorado 70 73 143 -1
Jon Rosa Fresno St. 71 72 143 -1
Darren Fletcher Nevada 73 70 143 -1
Eric Higgins N.Colorado 73 70 143 -1
Eric Nilsson So. Utah 75 68 143 -1
Nate Pettitt Col. St. 73 70 143 -1
Scott Tashie Denver 71 72 143 -1
48 Brett Black Utah State 72 72 144 E
Dustin Mills N.Colorado 69 75 144 E
Ryan McDonald Fresno St. 74 70 144 E
Pierre-Henri Soero Hawaii 73 71 144 E
Jake Ellison BYU 74 70 144 E
James Haban Nevada 73 71 144 E
Jared Humphries Utah State 73 71 144 E
Jonathan Stecher N.Colorado 69 75 144 E
56 John Cassidy Nevada 74 71 145 +1
Manuel Torres UTEP 75 70 145 +1
58 Barry Schenk Weber St. 73 73 146 +2
Alex Balog Ferris St. 73 73 146 +2
Jeff Carlson Ferris St. 79 67 146 +2
Steve Newren Utah 73 73 146 +2
Taylor Edwards So. Utah 77 69 146 +2
Anthony Gillick Denver 72 74 146 +2
Dustin Pimm Utah 70 76 146 +2
Greg Buckway Weber St. 76 70 146 +2
Kellen-Floyd Asao Hawaii 72 74 146 +2
Linus Nilsson SanDiegoSt 72 74 146 +2
Eric Restrepo UC Davis 74 72 146 +2
69 Matt Hastings Boise St. 74 73 147 +3
Charlie Soule Denver 73 74 147 +3
Zach Johnson So. Utah 72 75 147 +3
Dustin Hall Nevada 74 73 147 +3
Nick Travers Boise St. 77 70 147 +3
Colby Lindsay UTEP 74 73 147 +3
69 Cody Huot Utah State 73 74 147 +3
Jeff Gibson UVSC 73 74 147 +3
77 Trent Rommann UTEP 75 73 148 +4
Jesse Wheeler So. Utah 70 78 148 +4
Chad Follett Air Force 76 72 148 +4
80 Brendon Ehlers Utah State 75 74 149 +5
Nic Van Vuuren UVSC 74 75 149 +5
Adam Choy Boise St. 76 73 149 +5
Aaron Brown Ferris St. 73 76 149 +5
84 Kala'e Leong Air Force 74 76 150 +6
Cody Powers UVSC 74 76 150 +6
Scott Redmond Air Force 73 77 150 +6
87 Brett Kleinkopf Boise St. 72 79 151 +7
David Stewart Wyoming 77 74 151 +7
89 Daryl McCoy Air Force 76 76 152 +8
Shaun Wurtz BYUB 76 76 152 +8
Ben Douglas Hawaii 74 78 152 +8
92 Greg Hunt BYUB 80 73 153 +9
Jake Sowby Utah 79 74 153 +9
94 Todd Miller BYUB 75 79 154 +10
Chris Gresh Utah 81 73 154 +10
Niel King Wyoming 79 75 154 +10
97 Preston Otte Utah State 78 77 155 +11
98 Erik Hill UC Davis 76 81 157 +13
99 Milo Lines UVSC 77 81 158 +14
100 Todd Griffin Ferris St. 77 82 159 +15