May 6, 2011
Mountain West Conference Championship
Thursday: Round 1 – 7-over par 291, 8th place
Friday: Round 2 – 7-over par 291-284=575, 6th place
Saturday: Round 3 – Scheduled to begin at 8 a.m.
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TUCSON, Ariz. — The University of New Mexico men’s golf team was looking to make a move up the leaderboard Friday after a 7-over-par round Thursday landed them in eighth place at the Mountain West Conference Championship tournament, held at OMNI Tucson National’s 7,262-yard Catalina course.
Thanks in large part to the efforts of senior Travis Ross, the Lobos did just that, moving past Wyoming and Air Force and into sixth with an even-par 284 in the second round. The Lobos are now 16 strokes behind tourney leader San Diego State with 18 holes left.
“It was a good day for our team,” head coach Glen Millican said. “Having Travis play great certainly helped.”
Naturally, Millican is eyeing even further improvement from his Lobos in the final round.
“We had solid play from everyone today,” he said. “We’ve kept ourselves in a position to finish well tomorrow.”
Ross carded a 4-under-par 67 Friday during Friday’s second round, moving up from a tie for 10th into fifth place with a two-round total of 71-67=138. He’s now only three strokes behind co-leaders Johan Carlsson from San Diego State, UNLV’s Derek Ernst and Wyoming’s Gabe Maier at 7-under.
After finishing the first five holes at 1-over, Ross caught fire. Over the next six holes, he notched four birdies and an eagle 3 on the par-5, 587-yard eighth. Ross looked to be headed towards a 6-under round after another birdie at 15, but bogeyed 16 and 17 to bring him back to 4-under.
“I was just able to get it going in the middle of the round,” Ross said. “I scored well, with the exception of those two poor iron shots on 16 and 17.”
John Catlin continued his steady play, following up Thursday’s 73 with a 1-over 72. He’s now tied for 22nd with a 3-over 145. He was at 1-under through the first six holes before bogeying three of the next five. Birdies at 10 and again at 17 offset a fourth bogey at 14 and wrapped up his round at 1-over.
Fellow senior Tom Carlson rebounded nicely from a 6-over 77 in Thursday’s first round, carding an even-par 71 Friday. He carded 12 pars to go with three bogeys and birdies.
Carlson is now tied with teammates Sam Chavez and Ryan Gay for 31st at 6-over. Gay bogeyed four of the first seven holes to finish the front at 4-over, but had a birdies at 10 and 17 offset a fifth Bogey at 13 to bring him in at 3-over.
Chavez was 2-over through 13 before carding a 7 on the par-4 14th. He closed with a three pars and a birdie on 17 to finish at 4-over.
The seventh-ranked Aztecs hold a single-stroke lead over No. 36 UNLV, which carded a tournament-low 11-under 273 to move to 8-under. No. 40 TCU is in third at 3-under, with Brigham Young (even par) in fourth. Colorado State is in fifth, two strokes ahead of the Lobos at 5-over. Wyoming is in seventh at 12-over, with Air Force (+15) and Utah (+20) rounding out the field.
The Lobos will play with the Cougars and Rams to kick during Saturday’s third round. Chavez is teeing off with the first group of the day at 8:50 a.m. MT, with Gay (9:00), Catlin (9:10), Carlson (9:20) and Ross (9:30) to follow.