By CHRIS WILSON
After BYU men’s golf coach Bruce Brockbank stole his first Cougar Classic title in a come-from-behind victory April 22, the Cougars opened the first round of this year’s WAC Tournament “on fire.” Yet, when it was all over a new champion was crowned and BYU was left in seventh place.
Andy Miller, a sophomore from Napa, Calif., shot a six-under par 66 after the first 18 holes of the tournament at the Poppy Ridge Golf Club in Livermore, Calif.
Miller’s first-round performance put him in the lead by one stroke.
“Andy played a real good round,” Brockbank said in a news release. “He’s been playing pretty well all season, but he really turned on the putter.”
The men’s golf team will now look forward to the NCAA West Regionals in Scottsdale, Ariz., May 14-16.
Solid golfing placed BYU in fourth place with a four-under par 284 after day one. UNLV, the No. 1 team in the country, ended the day comfortably in first with an 11-under par 277.
“I’m pretty happy, even though we’re seven strokes back,” Brockbank said in a news release regarding the team’s first-round performance. “Any time you can be under par on a course like this, you’re doing all right.”
The second round was a struggle to maintain position on day two of the tournament. Both BYU and tournament leading UNLV shot even par, while second-place TCU went four-over par to finish the day.
BYU’s 572 total after two days positioned it for a run at the 1998 WAC championship title, still a mere seven strokes behind UNLV’s 565 two-day total and in third place overall.
Miller shot 10 strokes over his first-round tournament, leading 66, and dropped to 10th place individually. He joined teammates Jose Garrido and Michael Henderson in a three-way tie at two-under par. Henderson shot BYU’s best round of the day, a 69.
“I felt like I played pretty good,” said Henderson, a junior from Raleigh, N.C. “It was fun to be close to the lead.”
BYU was in perfect position to pick-off the top two teams in an 18 hole shoot-out but couldn’t quite get their gun out of the holster. The back nine of the third and final round killed the Cougars, dropping them from third to seventh overall in the tournament. BYU’s final-round 301 was the second worst round of the season.
“We were six under on the front nine and more than 20 over on the back. When you do that badly on the back nine, it’s just mental mistakes and not getting the job done,” Brockbank said.
Miller, the defending WAC champion, shot a 74, which was the best round of the day for the Cougars. Miller finished the tournament tied for 15th at 216.
TCU rallied on day three shooting 277 as a team and upset top-ranked UNLV in a come-from-behind victory. TCU’s J.J. Henry won the WAC title with a total of 205. Henderson was the only other Cougar to finish in the top-20, coming in 20th at 218.
