This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
This is one BYU sports story that will satisfy everybody.
The BYU women's golf team is in first place, after the Cougars' opening round of the NCAA Championship.
Or, viewed another way, the Cougars are in last place among 24 teams after their first 18 holes at Eugene (Ore.) Country Club.
The explanation is that only the Cougars played an official round Thursday, as the NCAA's accommodation for the school's policy against Sunday play. Technically, BYU was posting a third-round score. The Cougars and everyone else are playing the first round Friday.
So there's no frame of reference yet for the Cougars' "Sunday" team score of 10-over-par 298 (four of five players' scores count in each round), after a rather mysterious performance. The tournament's live scoring system was not activated Thursday and BYU's news release about the round was posted at 1:25 a.m. MDT Friday. BYU's team score was mentioned in the last sentence of a Eugene Register-Guard story previewing the tournament.
For the record, the Cougars counted Kendra Dalton's 2-under-par 70, Lea Garner's 73, Alex White's 76 and Rose Huang's 79. Brooklyn Hocker posted an 81. "I like to play fast, so I think it helped me get in a groove and play one shot to the next," Dalton said.
My conclusion is that BYU's unusual circumstances of having each golfer play individually Thursday will have no effect on whether or not the Cougars make the 54-hole cut to 15 teams or advance to the match-play quarterfinals. BYU didn't exploit the opportunity, nor were the Cougars penalized by playing alone — although if the weather happens to be horrible Sunday, the Cougars could benefit from others' misery.
In other words, the golf gods may have something to say about this tournament. Chances are, the Cougars will finish right where they belong, as one of the lowest-ranked teams in the championship field.
The Cougars deserve a lot of credit for advancing through the regional stage, and the NCAA committee should be commended for a creative, fair solution to BYU's policy. The school likes to market itself as different, and the golfers have brought some distinction to the athletic program with their outstanding 2015-16 performance.
They'll join the rest of the field in standard rounds Friday and Saturday, then spend Sunday hoping their 54-hole showing is good enough for them to keep playing.
Twitter: @tribkurt