Sept. 20, 2010
Golfweek’s Conference Challenge
Day 2 Results
Team Leaderboard | Individual Leaderboard
Day 2 Tee Times | Team & Player Leaderboard
BURLINGTON, Iowa — The University of New Mexico men’s golf team worked its way a little further up the team leaderboard during the second round at Golfweek’s Conference Challenge Monday, shooting a 3-under-par 285 to climb from fifth to fourth place with a 3-under, 288-285=573.
The Lobos trail leader and tournament host Iowa by 20 shots, but now sit only a single stroke out of second place. Campbell University and North Carolina State are tied for the second spot with matching 4-under 572s. New Mexico is knotted up with Baylor in fourth.
Individually, New Mexico’s Tom Carlson and John Catlin continued their strong play from the first round. Catlin moved from 13th place to a tie for seventh after carding a 3-under 69 on Monday, Bringing his two-day total to a 4-under 71-69=140. Carlson duplicated Sunday’s 1-under 71 and remains tied for 13th with a 2-under 142.
Travis Ross dropped back after being tied with Carlson and Catlin Sunday night and is now tied for 23rd at 1-over after Monday’s 2-over 74 (71-74=145). Ryan Gay sits one stroke behind Ross at 2-over after improving five strokes on his first-round score. Gay carded a 1-under 71 Monday – moving 19 spots up the leaderboard from 48th to into a seven-way tie for 29th. Sam Chavez is tied for 47th with a 7-over, two-round total of 76-75=151.
“The guys played another solid round and took better advantage of the wedge holes today,” Lobos’ head coach Glen Millican said. “That allowed us to shoot a few shots lower on a day the course was playing more difficult.”
While the rain that delayed the start of play on Sunday gave way to sunny skies and hot conditions Monday, Spirit Hallow still provided quite the challenge to the 15-team field.
“The wind blew roughly 15-20 mph out of the south today and the course was still wet” Millican said. “It played long. The wind was light out of the north (Sunday), making it a bit easier.”
Only the top four scores from each five-man team count towards the team’s total score at Golfweek’s Conference Challenge
The Hawkeyes’ Vince India leads the field with an 8-under 70-66=136. Teammate Brad Hopfinger remains at 7-under (65-72=137) and is tied for second place with Nevada’s Scott Smith (68-69=137). Middle Tennessee State’s Jason Millard stis alone in 4th at 6-under (71-67=138), while yesterday’s leader, Iowa’s Chris Bryant (64-75=139), is tied for fifth at 5-under with Eastern Michigan’s Nick Carbary (70-69=139).
Golfweek’s Conference Challenge is being held Sunday-Tuesday at Spirit Hollow golf course (Par-72, 7,360 yards). It is the first event of the fall season for the Lobos.
New Mexico starts the final round Tuesday morning with the rest of the field, as the entire 74-man field tees off at 7:30 a.m. MT thanks to a shotgun start.
Live scoring of Golfweek’s Conference Challenge is available at Golfstat.com.