2nd Round Individual Leaderboard
April 15, 2011
Bolstered by career best performances from freshman Sammi Stevens and junior Sarah Salvo, the New Mexico women’s golf team recorded its lowest round of the season today at the Mountain West Conference Championships in Litchfield Park, Ariz.
UNM fired a 1-over 289 – the low round of the day and a 14-shot improvement from Round 1 – at the Wigwam Resort Heritage Course (par 72, 6,408 yards) to keep its hopes alive for a fourth consecutive MWC title.
Today’s effort moved the three-time defending MWC champs into fourth place with a 36-hole total of 592 (303-289). UNM trimmed three shots off UNLV’s lead, but still trails the Rebels by 14 strokes entering Saturday’s final round.
UNLV is at 578, three shots ahead of TCU (581). BYU is third at 586.
UNM’s final round begins Saturday at 8:45 a.m. MT. The Lobos will be paired with fifth-place San Diego State. Live scoring is available at Golfstat.com.
“We swung our clubs a little more freely today,” said head coach Jill Trujillo. “I told the team that we need to chip away at the teams above us and that it can’t happen in one round. We have given ourselves a chance. We’ll need a low number Saturday, but we have a shot.”
Stevens led the UNM charge by firing a career-low 69. The freshman from Hereford, Texas, claims it’s her first bogey-free round in tournament competition, and that’s a golfing career that began when she was “able to walk.”
Stevens’ first of three birdies came on the par-3 5th, which exacted a measure of revenge after she suffered a double bogey there in the first round. Stevens putted through five feet of fringe for a birdie 3 on No. 12 then rolled in a six-footer on the par-4 14th.
“I only hit nine greens today, but I was on line and pretty close (to the pin) most of the time,” said Stevens. “It was really steady.”
Stevens preserved her bogeyless effort on 18 by chipping in from 20 feet for par. She is in ninth place at 146 (77-69), five shots behind co-leaders Ellis Keenan and Therese Koelbaek from UNLV and BYU’s Maggie Yuan, who are at 141.
Salvo equaled her best round at UNM with an even-par 72. She made two birdies (5 and 13) and two bogeys (1 and 9). Salvo is tied for 10th at 147 (75-72).
“I was just trying to stay steady and more level, but also be fierce and keep my teammates involved,” said Salvo. “We’ll need another round like this on Saturday. We definitely have a chance.”
Junior Rebecca Hellbom shot a 74, but is probably kicking herself that it wasn’t lower as she bogeyed both of the par 5s on the back nine. Hellbom sits at 149 (75-74), tied for 15th.
Sophomore Beth Buchner finished with birdies on the final two holes for a 74. She is tied for 18th at 150 (76-74).
Freshman Manon de Roey was five shots better today, shooting 74. Twice on the front side she followed a bogey with a birdie. Her 153 (79-74) total is tied for 25th.
LOBO NOTES
* The Lobos’ previous low score for 18 holes this year was 291 (+3) in the first round of the season at the Ptarmigan Ram Fall Classic in Fort Collins, Colo. Today’s 289 is UNM’s low 18 since a 278 (2nd-best all-time) at the 2010 PING/ASU Invitational in Tempe, Ariz.
* The 289 was 15 shots better than UNM’s season average of 304.03 entering today’s round…the team’s season average for 18 holes is now 303.48
* All five Lobos improved their score from Thursday’s 1st round
* After playing the first nine holes of the tournament in 12-over, UNM is a combined 1-over in its last 27 holes
* After playing holes 5 and 16 in 11-over in Round 1, UNM was a combined 1-under on those two holes today
* Stevens is the first Lobo freshman to break 70 since Rebecca Hellbom shot a 69 in the 1st round of the 2008 Kent Youel Invitational in Honolulu
* Salvo also shot 72 in last year’s 2nd round of the MWC Championships played at the Black Horse Golf Course in Seaside, Calif.
* Dating to 1977, UNM has never finished lower than 4th place in 34 previous conference championships (AIAW Regionals 1977-81, High Country Athletic Conference 1982-90, Western Athletic Conference 1991-99, Mountain West 2000-current), and that has happened only four times: 1978, 1990, 1998 and 1999