April 11, 2009
Steve Saunders’ ASU Thunderbird 3-Round Scorecard 
ASU Thunderbird Final Individual Scores >ASU Thunderbird Final Team Scores
Lobos’ senior Steve Saunders shot a 3-under-par 68 to claim a share of the individual title at the ASU Thunderbird Invitational played at Arizona State University’s Karsten Golf Course. Saunders, who started the final round at even par and tied for 11th place, erased a five-stroke deficit to ASU’s Cameron Edens. Saunders ended the tourney tied with Edens’ teammate Stephan Gross for the individual crown. Saunders finished the tournament shooting a 3-under 69-73-68=210.
Saunders, who started the final round on the eighth hole, moved to 4-under after 12 holes and remained there until three-putting to score a bogey on the par-3 sixth hole. Saunders regrouped on the final hole of the tourney, paring the par-3 seventh to retain a share of the lead. He finished the tournament shooting a 69-73-68=210.
A 60-foot birdie putt on the ninth hole jumpstarted Saunders’ run to the top of the leaderboard. “That’s one of the toughest holes on the course,” said Saunders, “It was really good for my psyche to drop that putt.”
The par-5 14th made Saunders’ rally from five back to start the day a real possibility, although it sure didn’t seem that way after he hit his tee shot.
“I hit a tree about 40 yards off the tee box and had to punch a 3-wood to about 89 yards short of the green with my second shot,” said Saunders. He holed the 89-yard shot to score an eagle. Joked Saunders, “I think it was the worst eagle ever.”
The win is Saunders’ second of his college career. The senior also tied for first place at the Morris Williams Intercollegiate his sophomore season – also posting a 3-under for the tournament. The win also marks the fifth consecutive event in which Saunders finished in the top ten.
“It feels real good to get a win, although I wish I could have won it outright,” said Saunders. “I’m still amazed that I three-putted on six for no good reason, but I still managed to find a way to climb to the top of the pile by the end of the day.”
“Steve has been playing real well for the past four tournaments and it was great to see him do enough today to get the win,” said Lobos’ head coach Glen Millican. “He’s been working real hard and it’s great to see him get the win.”
The Lobos wound up finishing the tournament with a 54-hole total of 876. The effort landed UNM at 24-over and in 15th place.
“Although it’s great to see Steve play so well, this wasn’t a good performance for our team as a whole,” said Millican. “We’re a better team than what we showed. The second round (Friday) afternoon just killed us.”
UNM was tied for fourth place for the majority of the first round of the Thunderbird and finished it tied for sixth place with Cal State Northridge after posting a 1-over 285. The Lobos’ second-round 20-over 304 dropped tem into a tie for 16th place at the end of the first day of competition. UNM improved on Saturday’s final round, posting a 3-over 287 to improve to 15th by the end of the tourney.