SANTA CRUZ, Calif. – Carson Lundell and Kelton Hirsch led BYU men’s golf with scores of 68 and 69 respectively in the opening round of the Western Intercollegiate at the par-70 Pasatiempo Golf Club on Monday.

“Carson and Kelton played great today,” said head coach Bruce Brockbank. “Lundell was one hiccup away from his best score of the season and Hirsch played a really super round, especially considering his start.”

Lundell carded five birdies and an eagle for a 68 in the opening round. The 2-under-par performance ties the junior from Alpine, Utah for third with WCC foe RJ Manke of No. 7 Pepperdine and Carl Corpus of San Jose State.

Hirsch overcame a double-bogey on the first hole by making five birdies and an eagle to card a 1-under 69 for the round—his best of the season. The senior from Centerville, Utah is tied for sixth with golfers from Pepperdine, No. 23 San Diego State, Washington and UTEP.

“Pasatiempo is so tricky,” said Brockbank. “It can jump up and get you at anytime. If an average or even good shot misses in the wrong side of the hole, you can make a big number.”

The remainder of BYU’s scoring on day one of the 54-hole event consisted of 74s from Keanu Akina and David Timmins, with 76s from Cole Ponich and Max Brenchley.

As a team, the Cougars combined for an opening round score of 11-over 361, tying for fifth with tournament host San Jose State. Washington leads the field of 13 teams with a first-round score of even-par 350. California is second at 353, followed by No. 7 Pepperdine in third at 354 and Stanford in forth at 358.

Finigan Tilly of Cal and Justin Ngan of Hawaii are tied for first in the individual standings after both fired a 3-under 67 on Monday.

“It was a solid start for our team today,” said Brockbank. “We need our best stuff the next two days.”

Second round action begins from Pasatiempo on Tuesday at 8:54 a.m. PDT. Live television coverage on the Golf Channel begins at 4 p.m. PDT. As always, keep track of the Cougars with scoring updates from Golfstat.

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. – BYU men’s golf continues its spring season at the 74th Western Intercollegiate at the historic Pasatiempo Golf Club on April 12-14.

One round of the 54-hole tournament will be played each day on the par-70 course. Tee times begin at 8:54 a.m. PDT on Monday, with live television coverage on the Golf Channel beginning at 4 p.m. PDT. The on-air broadcast team includes Bob Papa, Curt Byrum, Steve Burkowski and Billy Ray Brown. Live scoring updates are also availble via Golfstat.

The tournament format includes six golfers from each of the 15 universities in the field, with the top-five scores counted toward the overall team score each day.

Carson Lundell, Kelton Hirsch, Cole Ponich, David Timmins, Keanu Akina and Max Brenchley will compete for the Cougars in Santa Cruz.

Lundell has led BYU in scoring in five of seven tournaments this season. The junior from Alpine, Utah recorded his sixth top-25 finish of the season at The Goodwin in Stanford, California on March 25-27. Lundell comes in at No. 151 in Golfstat’s latest Division 1 top-250 individual rankings.

Akina and Brenchley are both promising freshmen competing in just the third tournament of their BYU careers. Brenchley posted a tie for fifth at the La Purisima College Invite in Lompoc, California on Oct. 19-20.  Akina also performed well at La Purisima with a tie for 23rd.  

BYU faces another difficult slate of opponents in Santa Cruz. The field of 15 includes three nationally ranked teams in Pepperdine (No. 7), Arizona (No. 19) and San Diego State (No. 23). Ten of the 96 individuals in the field are ranked in Golfstat’s top-100.

Pepperdine was picked to win the WCC in the preseason coaches poll and has finished in the top-three in seven of nine tournaments this season. The Waves bring four top-100 golfers into Santa Cruz and are coming off a second-place finish at the Augusta Haskins Award Invitational in Augusta, Georgia on April 3-4.

The Cougars have a rich tradition of success at the Western Intercollegiate. As a team, BYU has won the tournament seven times, including 1981 prior to winning the NCAA National Championship. Six BYU golfers have won the tournament’s individual title. Rafael Ponce was the last to do so with a three-round score of 73-69-75—217 in 1989. Others include Johnny Miller (1968), Mike Brannan (1976), Bobby Clampett (1980), Rick Fehr (1982) and current BYU head coach Bruce Brockbank (1988).

Brockbank is one of just two players to win the individual title (73-71-71—215) and then return to the Western Intercollegiate as a head coach. The other being the late Ross Randall, the 1964 Western Intercollegiate medalist, who returned for many years as the head coach of the University of Kansas.

Opened in 1929, Pasatiempo Golf Club was designed by world-renowned golf architect Alister MacKenzie, who also designed Augusta National and Cypress Point. The par 70, 6,495-yard, semi-private course is typically included in the annual Golf Digest America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses. In addition to the Western Intercollegiate, Pasatiempo has also hosted several USGA Championships, including the 1986 U.S. Women’s Amateur and the 2004 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur.