Cougars start slow at NCAA West Regional

PALO ALTO -- BYU's women's golf team struggled in the opening round of the 2002 NCAA West regional finishing the day in 19th place out of 21 teams.

The Cougars picked a bad day to have their worst round of the season. On the challenging Stanford Golf Course BYU finished a dismal 38-over-par. But the Cougars were not alone in their struggles. Only five out of 108 individuals in the tournament shot below par and only 4 out of the 21 teams competiting shot below 300 on the first day.

"We just struggled from top to bottom today," BYU head coach Sue Nyhus said. "It was a beautiful day for golf, but this is a challenging course and we just need to respond better to these type of conditions."

Carrie Summerhays led the Cougars shooting 7-over 79 while Nicole and Natalie Newren both shot 10-over 82. Junior Jessica Garder turned in an 83 and Nicole Hardy finished with an 85.

With the top eight teams advancing to the NCAA Championships, BYU is 17 shots behind eighth-place USC, who finished the day at 21-over 309. The Cougars have their work cut out for them in the final two rounds, but in the game of golf, anything is possible.

Pepperdine holds a seven-stroke lead after the first round ahead of UCLA thanks to four of its individuals finishing in the top-25. MWC Champion New Mexico is in fifth place at 14-over 302.

Second round action begins at 8 a.m. PST and live scoring can be followed live on the internet at http://www.golfstatlive.com/public/index.cfm?tournament_id=141

FIRST ROUND TEAM SCORES
1, Pepperdine            289  +1
2. UCLA                  296  +8
3. California            297  +9
4. Arizona               299  +11
5. New Mexico            302  +14
6. Stanford              303  +15
7. Arizona State         308  +20
8. USC                   309  +21
9. Washington            310  +22
10. New Mexico St.       311  +23
11. Idaho                314  +26
12. Colorado State       315  +27
12. San Francisco        315  +27
14. Washington St.       317  +29
15. Campbell             319  +31
15. San Jose             319  +31
17. No. Arizona          323  +35
18. Denver               324  +36
19. BYU                  326  +38
19. UC Irvine            326  +38
20. Oral Roberts         335  +47
BYU INDIVIDUAL SCORES
T52. Carrie Summerhays      79
T74. Nicole Newren          82
T74. Natalie Newren         82
T82. Jessica Gardner        83
T95. Lisa Dernick           85