AUSTIN, Texas – BYU men’s golf finished day two at the NCAA Austin Regional in fourth place after a 1-under round of 283 at The University of Texas Golf Club on Tuesday.
“It looks like we are going to tee off at the same time tomorrow off the 10th tee,” BYU director of golf Todd Miller said. “It will be great to be on the same schedule and get at least nine holes in without much wind. I feel like the team is feeling more comfortable on this course each round. I hope we can go out and shoot our best round of the tournament.”
Zac Jones climbed into fifth place after a second round of 3-under-par, 68 that included five birdies. Peter Kim made three birdies en route to an even-par 71 to sit in a tie for 10th with one round to play. Cooper Jones is tied for 25th (70-73–143; +1), Keanu Akina sits in a tie for 50th (76 71 147; +5) and Max Brenchley is in 57th (72-76–148; +6).
“The team played pretty solid overall today, we got off to a hot start but weren’t able to capitalize on it,” Kim said. “The course is challenging and had some really tough pins today. We are in a good spot heading into tomorrow and we just need to all play good golf tomorrow.”
Tournament host Texas leads the regional at 22-under-par with Tennessee in second at 12-under and Notre Dame at 10-under-par in third. BYU holds onto the fourth spot at 6-under-par with the University of Utah in the fifth qualifying spot at even par. The top five teams in the 13-team field will advance to the NCAA Championship at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa.
“The guys that I’ve played with from Utah, Georgia and UNC Greensboro have been super nice,” Akina said. “As a team, we played fine today, I had a better round. I hit a great 4-iron from 230 yards on hole eight to 12 feet with a big cut. I’m excited to have a good round tomorrow and help the team.”
The Cougars look to maintain their position in the top five during Wednesday's final round to qualify for the NCAA Championships. BYU will be paired with Utah and Wake Forrest and will tee off at 8 a.m. CT. Scoring can be found at GolfStat.com.