May 7, 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 – 6-over Par 291-284-283=858, 5th place
Complete Final Results | Ross’ 3-Round Scorecard 
| OMNI Tucson National | Mountain West Championship Central
TUCSON, Ariz. — University of New Mexico men’s golfer Travis Ross came within a whisker of winning the Mountain West Conference Tournament Championship Saturday afternoon, losing on the third hole of a sudden-death playoff to UNLV’s Derek Ernst.
Ross instead finishes tied for second with fellow playoff participant Ryan Peterson from Colorado State at 6-under.
Ross and Peterson looked as though they were going to finish tied for second before the playoff. Ernst took a 1-stroke lead to the 18th tee, but bogeyed the final hole, dropping down to 6-under and setting up the three-way playoff with Peterson and Ross.
All three parred the first two playoff holes before Ernst’s birdie on the third bested pars from Ross and Peterson and propelled the Aztec to medalist honors.
“On the first hole I had an 8-foot putt for the win, but I just didn’t trust the read,” Ross said. “I just hit a poor putt.”
After the trio parred the second hole to send the playoff to hole No. 3, Ernst hit his approach to within about a foot, while Ross had a 30-foot putt to try to extend the playoff.
“Derek hit a great shot,” Ross said. “I had to convert from over 30 feet and I just couldn’t do it. I was happy to have a shot at the individual title. I just have to learn for the next time.”
Ross looked as though he might fall out of the top 10 after finishing the front 9 at 2-over. Then he got hot, carding birdies on five of the first six holes on the back side to move from 2-over to 3-under with three holes to play. Ross’s four straight birdies on holes 10-13 moved him into second place from 11th. A birdie on 15 gave him the lead.
“It was fun getting it going on the back,” Ross said. “I’d climbed back into contention coming in. I didn’t know I actually held the lead going into 18.”
Ross’ driver betrayed him on No. 18, sending his tee shot into the water hazard on the left. He salvaged a bogey but had dropped back to 6-under and had to wait out the rest of the field to determine his fate.
Ross’ performance propelled the Lobos to a fifth-place finish, 11 strokes behind Tournament winners San Diego State (-5). TCU finished two strokes behind the Aztecs at 3-under, with UNLV taking third (+2) and Colorado State fourth (+4).
New Mexico’s 1-under 283 tied with the Rams for the lowest round of the day. The Lobos closed the tournament with a 6-over 291-284-283=858.
“Travis had a great week,” Lobo head coach Glen Millican said. “It was fun watching him compete for the individual title. The team played another very good round today. Tying for the low round of the day is always an accomplishment against these teams.”
John Catlin again improved on his previous day’s score, carding an even-par 71 and finishing in a five-way tied for 17th with a 3-over 73-72-71=216. Catlin looked like he might make a big move up the leaderboard through 13 holes, sitting a 2-under. But bogeys at 14 and 17 brought him back to even par. He still bumped up from 22 to 17th on Saturday, eight spots higher than his 25th-place showing at last year’s conference tournament.
Ryan Gay also shot his best round of the tourney, offsetting three bogeys on the front with three birdies on the back to finish with an even-par 71. Gay’s three-day total of 74-74-71=219 landed him at 6-over and a three-way tie for 26th. Gay finished in a tie for 39th at the 2010 MWC tourney.
Senior Sam Chavez closed out his MWC career with his best round of the tournament, carding a 1-over 72. After a relatively uneventful front nine had Chavez making the turn at even par, the back nine proved to be quite a rollercoaster. He carded three birdies and three bogeys through the first seven holes, then bogeyed 18 to finish at 1-over. Chavez tied for 29th, finishing the tourney with a 7-over 73-75-72=220.
Fellow senior Tom Carlson carded a 4-over 75 in the final round of his fourth MWC tournament. Carlson finished tied for 33rd at 10-over with a three-round total of 77-71-75=223.
As to the Lobos’ immediate future, they’ll be waiting out Monday’s announcement from the NCAA as to which schools have qualified for its regional tournaments.
“I think we did enough as a team with today’s round to have a great chance to receive an at-large bid for the regionals,” Ross said. “It was a great finish for our team today.”