Men’s golf opens at BYU Ping Cougar classic

The University of Wyoming men’s golf team had an impressive showing in the first day of competition at the BYU Ping Cougar classic in Provo, Utah. Wyoming shot a first round of 292 and 291.

Although these two scores placed Wyoming in 10th place out of an 11 team playing field, freshman Drew McCullough had a stellar first day with a score of 141 (-3), tying him for the 4th spot overall in the 60 man playing field. McCullough’s first two eighteen holes ended up as 73 (+1) and 68 (-4), respectively.

“I’m thrilled to death because I think this may have been one of our best starts to a tournament so far,” UW head coach Joe Jensen said. “It’s a great field of athletes and we are only 11 strokes back from second place which gives us tomorrow to come out and catch some teams.”

McCullough’s round of 68 is tied for his career best round. McCullough last shot a 68 at the Ram Masters Invitational in Fort Collins, Colorado.

In golf, the difference between standings can be only a few strokes. This is clearly seen with Ryan Wallen’s 142 which placed him at 9th place overall, five spots below McCullough. The last UW golfer to place in the top 20 was Kamrin Allen who shot a 144 landing him in 17th place overall.

Golfing as an individual was red shirt freshman Arron Lickteig. He proved that he should be there firing a modest 149. This score gave Lickteig the 41st spot overall in tournament play. Finishing at the end of the pack were freshman Glenn Workman and Quinton Pope. Workman ended with a 156 which landed him in the 54th position out of the 60 man playing field. Not far behind Pope finished with a 161 which settled him into the 58th spot overall.

The top golfer of the day was Southern Utah’s Nic Booth who fired a very impressive 138. With this score McCullough and the rest of the University of Wyoming golf team is not too far off the lead of the pack. With the Pokes impressive first day of competition they had set themselves up to fare well in the second half of competition.