PROVO — When BYU coach Bruce Brockbank got a call from UNC-Charlotte coach Jamie Green asking to play in the 44th annual Cougar Classic, he was happy to add his team to the field. He just had no idea how good the 49ers were.
Brockbank found out Friday at Riverside Country Club as Charlotte grabbed the lead after 18 holes among the 16 teams and held it through the afternoon's second round.
Charlotte leads the tournament with a 36-hole total of 25-under-par 551 after consistent rounds of 275 and 276. Last year's champion Fresno State and Weber State are tied for second at 556, while host BYU stands fourth at 557.
It's surprising that the Cougars, who are ranked fourth in the nation in the latest Golfstat.com poll, could only manage a fourth place standing after 36 holes of their own tournament.
"It just shows you the depth of college golf," Brockbank said. "There were a lot of great scores out there today, a lot of good red numbers. We may have to shoot 15 or 20 under tomorrow to win."
In the individual race, a couple of home-grown golfers are on top.
Weber State's Barry Schenk, who grew up in Layton, is in first place at 133 after rounds of 67 and 66, while Utah' Dustin Pimm, is just a shot behind at 134 following rounds of 64 and 70.
Hot on their tails are Fresno State's Jon Rosa at 135, Boise State's Graham DeLaet and Fresno's Brian Kelley at 136 and BYU's Jake Ellison and Greg Hunt and Charlotte's Ray Sheedy at 137.
"I putted so well, the flat-blade got it done for me today," said Schenk. "It seems like I'd look up, and it was going right on line. It was as solid as I could have played. It didn't seem like anything could go wrong."
Schenk only made two bogeys and though he didn't have any spectacular shots, he was solid all day, making most of his putts, including a 45-footer.
Pimm had the round of the day in the morning and thought he hit the ball even better in the afternoon round, when it rained lightly at times.
"This morning I made the putts when I had to, but just didn't score this afternoon," he said. "But all in all, it was a good first day."
If the Cougars lose by a couple of shots, they'll remember what happened to Nick Becker in Friday morning's round.
On the fourth hole, he discovered he had 15 clubs in his bag, one over the allowable maximum of 14. So he had to take a four-stroke penalty, which turned a sparkling round of 67 into a 71.
Ironically, Brockbank had reminded his team on the driving range to count their clubs, but Becker was on the putting green at the time.
BYU's Clay Ogden, who played in the Masters last week, was the Cougars non-counter (low four of five scores count) with two rounds of 72. He stands in a tie for 38th at 144.
Nevada sits in fifth place at 565, followed by Hawaii at 566 and Colorado State at 567. UNLV, ranked No. 7 in the nation is tied for eighth place with UTEP.
Utah Valley State is 10th, while Utah is 14th, Southern Utah 15th and Utah State 16th.
The teams will tee off between 8 and 10 a.m. this morning, with the leaders going off last.
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