March 8, 2011
2011 Fresno State Lexus Classic
Final Results:
Team 
| Individual | Combination
FRESNO, Calif. — The University of New Mexico men’s golf team again closed strong to end a tournament, this time posting a 3-over-par 363 in the final round of the Fresno State Lexus Golf Classic to climb from a tie for 10th at the end of Day 1 to a tie for sixth at 43-over for the tournament.
It was just over two weeks ago when the Lobos carded the lowest round in school history with a 20-under 268 during the final round at the John Burns Intercollegiate, leapfrogging from 11th to fourth place in the process.
While Tuesday’s performance wasn’t nearly as dramatic, New Mexico did again show it’s late-round moxy in carding the 3-over round today as nearly every other team posted a much higher score.
The Lobos’ 381-379-363=1123 was good enough for the Lobos to wind up tied with tournament host Fresno State and conference foe Brigham Young for sixth place, three strokes out of a top-five finish. Fellow MWC member San Diego State captured the team title with a 3-over 366-355-362=1083, 26 strokes better than second-place Pacific (375-366-368=1109, +29).
Duke finished third with a 30-over 377-361-372=1110, with UC Irvine (+36) finishing fourth and UC Santa Barbara (+40) fifth.
Individually, Travis Ross captured yet another top-20 finish, carding a final-round 1-under 71 to finish tied for 14th with a 3-over 72-76-71=219. Ross finished a mere two strokes out of a top-ten finish.
Shane McDonald, also carded a 1-under 71 in the final round, finishing tied for 27th with a 7-over 76-76-71=223. It marks McDonald’s highest finish with the Lobos’ varsity squad and first top-30 finish at a varsity meet.
Tom Carlson, New Mexico’s top finisher in each of the last three tournaments, closed tied for 39th with a 9-over 74-76-75=225. John Catlin finished two strokes behind Carlson at 11-over, carding a 79-74-74=227. Samuel Chavez tied for 73rd with a 16-over 80-77-75=232, while Sam Saunders closed with an even-par 72 to finish 97th at 23-over.
It was another good final round for our guys,” head coach Glen Millican said. “We held things together very well and closed the tournament with a solid finish.”
New Mexico is in action next at the National Invitational Tournament March 21-22 at the OMNI Tucson National Golf Club, site of the Mountain West Conference Championship tournament a in early May.