Cougars Still Fine-Tuning

ALBUQUERQUE (Sept., 28, 2002) -- BYU finished 16th of 19 teams after the third and final round of New Mexico's Dick McGuire Invitational and is still fine-tuning at the start of a new season.

The Cougars shot 319-312-327--958 (+82) to put them 26 shots back from a top-10 finish.

"This is a really tough course and it requires a lot of experience playing it," BYU head coach Sue Nyhus said.

With the team being so young, BYU had only two experienced players that had competed in this tournament on this course in past years.

Sophomore Natalie Newren finished tied for 39th with 78-78-79--235. Senior Jessica Gardner shot 80-77-82--239 and finished tied for 55th. Sophomore Margaret Gibby finished tied for 58th with 80-78-82--240. Freshmen Symantha Mendenhall and Danielle von Arnim shot 81-79-85--245 and 82-83-84--249 to finish tied for 76th and 86th.

"We have so much talent," Newren said. "We're just not putting everything together in order to get it done."

Newren started out with a 43 on the front-nine and battled back with a one-under-par on the back-nine to shoot a sub-80 round today.

"When I made the turn, I had some time to sit for a couple of minutes and think about my rough front-nine," Newren said. "I remembered what our assistant coach, Coach Dave, told me before we left for the tournament--'Walk like a champion, act like a champion, and play like a champion.' Right then I decided I wasn't going to let the course beat me up because I knew I was better than that, so I turned it around on the back-side."

New Mexico won the tournament with a seven shot lead over Washington and Pepperdine shooting 297-292-302--891 (+15). Katherine Hull of Pepperdine and Lisa Meldrum tied for first individually shooting eight-under-par (74-67-70--211 and 70-70-71--211).

BYU heads to Washington next for the Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational at Tacoma C.C. on Oct. 7-9.

Fin. School Scores

1 New Mexico, U. of 297-292-302--891 (+15)

2 Washington, U. of 300-297-301--898 (+22)

Pepperdine Univ. 304-297-297--898 (+22)

4 Oklahoma, U. of 301-296-304--901 (+25)

5 Tulsa, U. of 303-302-302--907 (+31)

New Mexico State 298-302-307--907 (+31)

7 Texas, Univ. of 303-301-306--910 (+34)

8 TCU 306-300-313--919 (+43)

9 UNLV 308-315-309--932 (+56)

Baylor University 316-312-304--932 (+56)

11 Arizona State U. 317-304-314--935 (+59)

12 Texas El Paso, U. of 317-318-315--950 (+74)

13 Texas A&M Uniiv. 314-317-323--954 (+78)

14 Colorado State Univ. 318-314-324--956 (+80)

15 Texas Tech Univ 310-323-324--957 (+81)

16 Brigham Young Univ. 319-312-327--958 (+82)

17 Northern Arizona U. 323-325-320-968 (+92)

18 San Diego State Univ 331-326-324--981 (+105)

19 Wyoming, U. of 327-340-337--1004 (+128)

Fin. BYU Players Scores

T 39 Natalie Newren 78-78-79--235

T 55 Jessica Gardner 80-77-82--239

T 58 Margaret Gibby 80-78-82--240

T 76 Symantha Mendenhall 81-79-85--245

T 86 Danielle von Arnim 82-83-84--249