BYU golf teams move into prime contention for WCC championships


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PROVO — There wasn’t anything the BYU women’s golf team did poorly on the first day of the West Coast Conference golf championships Thursday, but the tournament hosts and defending WCC champions just weren’t putting everything together.

By Friday, the putts were dropping more to the Cougars’ liking.

Kendra Dalton shot 2-under-par 70 — a five-shot improvement from her opening round — and Rose Huang added a 1-under 71 to help the 27th-ranked Cougars to a three-shot lead over No. 36 Pepperdine ahead of Saturday’s final round at Riverside Country Club in Provo.

“We had a few sloppy little mistakes,” said Dalton, whose 70 paced BYU to shave eight strokes off its first-round total. “But we cleaned it up and played more of what we are used to.”

BYU coach Carrie Roberts put particular emphasis on eliminating “dumb bogeys” from the Cougars’ game, and her team took it to heart. Dalton played bogey-free golf, and a birdie on the fourth and eighth holes helped her post the team-high round.

“Great teams always know how to bounce back, and they are a great team,” Roberts said. “They’re super competitive, and I knew they would bounce back. They just have it in them to fight.

“Kendra just flat-out played better. She made better decisions, and I think that was key for all of us.”

The Cougars’ top-four golfers had just eight bogeys Friday and balanced them with six birdies — including four birdies on the back nine from Huang en route to 71. That helped eliminate a five-shot deficit against No. 36 Pepperdine.

“I feel like everyone on the team played well [Thursday],” Huang said. “But little things here and there caused strokes to fall away. Today we just knew that we had it, and just had to do the little things better. That’s the difference in strokes.”

Pepperdine’s Hira Naveed tops the leaderboard before the final 18 holes at 1-under par, followed by Haung (even-par) and Dalton (1-over). BYU has four golfers in the top seven, and the Waves posted five of the top-10 scores as the pair of schools pulled away from the rest of the five-team field.

“Today was kind of like moving day, and we just had to show up and do it,” Dalton said. “Everybody came out with a little fire, ready to go. And we did what we needed to do.”

The tournament concludes Saturday, with the first group scheduled to tee off at 9:20 a.m. in Provo.

WCC men's golf championships

Photo: Sean Walker, KSL.com
Photo: Sean Walker, KSL.com

The BYU men’s golf team started Friday’s second round of the West Coast Conference golf championships up 13 strokes on No. 22 Pepperdine, but head coach Bruce Brockbank knew that margin wouldn’t last forever.

It was going to take a special performance for the 47th-ranked Cougars to maintain the lead on their home course.

And they got it from a freshman.

First-year golfer Peter Kuest shot a career-best 5-under-par 67, and BYU took a five-shot lead into the final round of the tournament over the Waves.

“If it’s not one guy, it’s another. But Peter Kuest shooting 67 as a young freshman — it’s great having him on the team,” Brockbank said. “To see him shoot that score today and keep us right there and in a good spot was key for us as three of our guys struggled a little bit today.”

Kuest, who is tied for the individual lead at 7-under, carded six birdies with just one bogey to showcase a commanding effort.

The Waves pulled within one stroke of the lead during the second round, paced by a pair of 68s from Clay Feagler and Josh McCarthy. But Kuest dropped three-straight birdies on the 14th, 15th and 16th greens to help the Cougars pull away on the back nine.

“We always seem to play the back nine really well,” said Kuest, who shot 68 four times this season. “We like it, and we know this course, so we can take advantage of the holes.

“Some of the pins were tough, but we knew how to play them.”

Kuest played 5-under on the par 4s, and were it not for a bogey on the par-3 ninth he could have had a perfect round.

“Everything was going well today,” Kuest said. “I hit 18-of-18 greens, and I think I hit most of the fairways, too. I just didn’t make any mistakes out there.

“The golf was easy today.”

Rhett Rasmussen shot 2-under 70 to add to the Cougars’ margin, while Utah State Amateur champion Patrick Fishburn carded a 1-under 71 for BYU.

First-round leader Hayden Shieh of Santa Clara is 7-under through 36 holes to remain tied with Kuest for the individual lead. Fishburn is third with a two-day 139, two-strokes back of the leaders.

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