Feb. 20, 2009
John Burns Intercollegiate Final Results 
University of New Mexico freshman James Erkenbeck shot a 7-under-par 65 to claim the individual title at the John Burns Intercollegiate played at the Leilihua Golf Course in Wahiawa, Hawai’i. Erkenbeck, who started the final round in eighth place, erased a five-shot deficit to edge second-round leader Tarquin Macmanus from Arizona by one shot. Erkenbeck finished at 11-under 205. He is the Lobos’ first medalist since Charlie Beljan won the 2007 ASU Thunderbird Intercollegiate.
Erkenbeck had seven birdies on the round, including a crucial 5-foot birdie putt on 18 to break a tie with Macmanus and take the title. His 65 ties for the ninth-best round in UNM history.
“I managed to get to 5-under pretty early in the round, but the back nine was more difficult,” said Erkenbeck. “I just tried to hang in there down the stretch and make my putts.”
Erkenbeck posted four straight birdies on holes 8-11 to get to 5-under on the day. He dropped a 4-footer for birdie on 16, rolled in a tough 8-foot par putt on 17 before the heroics on the final hole.
“We were waiting for the scores to be posted after we’d finished, so I was on the phone with my dad when I found out I’d won,” said Erkenbeck. “He was pretty excited.”
“We’ve seen James play a lot of good golf this year,” said UNM head coach Glen Millican, “So it was awesome to see him get everything he wanted out of a round today. The whole team played well today. Most of the time the way we played is good enough to win the team title.”
Erkenbeck’s big day led New Mexico to a second place finish in the team competition. The Lobos shot a final day 277 to finish at 25-under 839, three strokes behind Texas A&M. The Aggies shot a staggering 16-under 272 in the final round. UNM’s 839 total is the seventh-best score in UNM history.
“We beat a lot of great teams today and managed to catch Arizona,” said Millican. “That was simply an unbelievable round of golf from a great team today in Texas A&M.”
The Lobos beat all three teams ranked in the Golf World/Nike college top 25, two of whom are UNM’s competition in the Mountain West Conference: No. 14 Arkansas (849), No. 16 Colorado State (851) and No. 22 UNLV (864).
The Lobos’ Steve Saunders also finished in the top 10, shooting a 3-under 69 on the final day to finish at 6-under 210 and in a tie for 10th. Tom Carson and Jon Sauer both finished at 3-under 213 to tie for 24th. Parker Pemberton posted a 1-under 215 to tie for 33rd while Nick Geyer tied for 49th at 218.