BYU campus briefs

MEN'S GOLF: The Cougars are in the hunt after the first round of play at the Pacific Invitational in Stockton, Calif. They finished the day 5-under-par to place fourth after 18 holes as senior Robbie Fillmore fired the best round of his career at 65 (-6).

"We had a great day today," said BYU head coach Bruce Brockbank. "The weather was perfect, the golf course was in great shape and we played a lot better than we've been playing. I challenged the guys to go out and play mentally tough, and they did a good job of that."

Fillmore posted seven birdies on the day in recording a masterful round. After going 2-under on the front nine, he dominated the final nine holes with four birdies. At the end of the day, Fillmore was tied for third place in the field, just one stroke back of the co-leaders.

His previous career-best came in 2008 at the John H. Burns Invitational when he tallied a final-round 66 as a sophomore.

Also finishing the day in the top 10 was Cougar sophomore Jordan Rodgers, who tied for 10th at 2-under-par. His round of 69 featured three birdies and consistent play on the front and back nine holes as he went 1-under on each. With this round-one score, Rodgers has now had at least one round under par in three of the four tournaments the Cougars have competed in this year.

Senior Brady Johnson also finished the day under par at -1 with an 18-hole score of 70. He posted three birdies and two bogeys to tie for 18th in the field.

The Cougar field was rounded out by freshman Zac Blair at +4 and junior Esteban Calisto at +6. Blair tallied two birdies and finished tied for 52nd overall while Calisto had one birdie on the way to 59th place.

Overall, the Cougars are just one shot back of host Pacific and six shots behind the leaders. Tournament play will continue on Tuesday with round two.

WOMEN'S GOLF: The Cougars started their final tournament of the fall season on Monday at the Turtle Bay Collegiate Invitational in Laie, Hawaii, going 20-over-par to place 14th after round one.

"This course is a lot different than we're used to," said BYU head coach Sue Nyhus. "The greens are different, the grass is different and the trade winds are different. We just want to learn from today's round."

The four counting Cougar scores were all identical as freshman Kelsey Vines, sophomore Maggie Yuan, junior Jade Bollinger and senior Shayla Forsey all posted a round-one score of 77, 5-over-par. Each player had one birdie in her respective round.

Yuan has the best stroke on the front nine holes as she went 1-over-par while Forsey was textbook on the back nine at 1-under-par. All four players tied for 54th. Amanda Keith went +10 with three birdies to place 87th while Emily Copier, competing independently, was 9-over-par to tie for 84th.

UC Davis led the pack after day one at -7 while the Cougars finished two strokes behind 13-place Gonzaga and two shots ahead of New Mexico State.

The Cougars will look to make their move when play continues on Tuesday with round two.

"We certainly want to end the fall on a positive note so we're striving to finish strong," said Nyhus.