Cougars in sixth after two rounds in Arizona

Tempe, Ariz.-Led by All-American Manuela Merizalde, BYU shot a 14-under-par first round, but struggled in the second round of the Thunderbird/Savanne Invitational on Friday.

Merizalde led No. 14 BYU as he shot a first round 67, but was one-over-par in the second round. Senior golfer Scott Miller was four under after the first round and shot an even second round. Another senior, Billy Harvey was three under after round one, but faltered in the afternoon round going three over par. After the first round, BYU held a nine shot lead over the rest of the field, but the Cougars' second round scores pushed them back to sixth.

"We had an outstanding first round," BYU head coach Bruce Brockbank said. "But we didn't maintain our play and we went downhill the last ten holes today."

The Cougars' first round was their second-lowest 18 hole score on the season. Playing 36 holes in the Arizona sun, BYU started out hot, but soon fell behind a No 4 Texas, No. 8 Arizona State and No. 9 USC. Eleven teams participating in the Thunderbird/Savanne Invitational are ranked in the nation's top 30.

The Cougars were ranked as high as No. 6 earlier this season, but have struggled somewhat in their last two tournaments dropping to no. 14 in the polls. Final round action of the Sun Devil Invitational continues on Saturday where BYU looks to fight back to its winning ways.

BYU INDIVIDUALS
T  9   Manuel Merizalde               67-73--140
T  9   Scott Miller                   68-72--140
T 42   Billy Harvey                   69-75--144
T 60   Jesse Hibler                   72-74--146
T 88   Kyle Wight                     70-80--150
TEAM SCORES AFTER ROUND 2
Fin Team/Players                    Scores
1  Texas, Univ. of                284 270   554
T  2  Southern California         283 276   559
T  2  Houston, Univ. of           283 276   559
4  Arizona State U.               283 280   563
5  Pepperdine Univ.               288 279   567
6  Brigham Young Univ.            274 294   568
T  7  Arizona, U. of              282 288   570
T  7  New Mexico, U. of           281 289   570
T  7  Oklahoma State U.           284 286   570
10  Arizona State Maroon          284 287   571
11  Oklahoma, U. of               283 292   575
12  California, U. of             286 291   577
T 13  UCLA                        296 286   582
T 13  Virginia, U. of             290 292   582
15  UNLV                           290 293   583
16  Texas El Paso, U. of           295 290   585
17  Washington, U. of              295 291   586
18  Oregon, U. of                  291 297   588
19  Oregon State U.                289 300   589
20  Fresno State Univ.             299 292   591
21  Stanford University            303 292   595
22  CSU-Northridge                 295 304   599