1st Round Individual Leaderboard
April 14, 2011
Early nerves. A tale of two nines. Frontside jitters. Call it what you want, but the University of New Mexico women’s golf team is in an early hole in its quest to capture a fourth straight Mountain West Conference championship.
The Lobos shot a 15-over 303 today at the Wigwam Resort Heritage Course (par 72, 6,408 yards) in Litchfield Park, Ariz. UNM is in sixth place, 17 shots behind first-round leader UNLV. The Rebels fired a 2-under 286. TCU is second at 288 followed by BYU at 292.
Second-round action gets underway Friday at 8 a.m. MT. Live scoring is available at Golfstat.com.
New Mexico entered the seven-team tournament as the No. 5 seed.
UNM played the front nine in an unsightly 12-over par. However, the Lobos were much better on the back side as they dropped just two strokes.
“We had quite a train wreck on the first nine,” said head coach Jill Trujillo. “We got back on the rail on the back. It seems like we have been playing catch up all year. I have no doubt that they can come back, but it looked really bad right off.”
One thing the Lobos agreed on is they would like a mulligan on two holes.
Inexplicably, three Lobos lost a combined 11 shots on No. 5 (par 3, 145 yards) and No. 16 (par 4, 391 yards). The damage inflicted was a bogey and five double bogeys.
By contrast, the other six teams played 5 and 16 in a combined 10 over. Leader UNLV was 4 under on those two holes.
“Those two holes were our downfall today. Those double bogeys got us,” said Trujillo.
Junior Rebecca Hellbom made double bogeys at 5 and 16, but played the other 16 holes in 1 under to finish with a 3-over 75 (39-36). One of her three birdies was a nifty 40-foot putt on the par-4 11th.
“We have been slow starters all year, but we have been good at coming back,” said Hellbom of her team’s first round. “We have two more days. We need to step it up.”
Junior Sarah Salvo also shot a 75 (38-37) for UNM. She bogeyed the first two holes before playing the final 16 holes in 1 over.
Sophomore Beth Buchner had a 76 (40-36). She was 2-over on the round after consecutive birdies at 13 and 14, but bogeyed 16 and 17 to finish even on the back.
Freshman Sammi Stevens shot a 77 (40-37), finishing on a positive note with a birdie on the par-5 18th.
Freshman Manon de Roey opened with a double bogey on No. 1 and shot a 79 (39-40). Last month, de Roey had a 73 on this course.
Individually, UNLV’s Ellis Keenan has the first-round lead after shooting a 4-under 68. She leads teammate Therese Koelbaek and TCU’s Prisela Campbell by two shots. Koelbaek shot a 31 on the back, including an eagle 2 on No. 16.