Jan. 29, 2012
The University of New Mexico men’s golf team, the Golfweek.com/Sagarin No. 24 team in the nation, returns to action Monday for the start of the spring season when it participates in the Arizona Intercollegiate in Tucson, Ariz.
The 54-hole tournament consists of 13 teams — three ranked in the Golfweek/Sagarin Ratings , including California (No.12), the Lobos and host Arizona (No. 49).
Most coaches whose teams have not competed in an event in more than two months might be concerned about how their golfers might fare. UNM coach Glen Millican isn’t one of them.
“I’m looking forward to us getting back into competition, especially after a layoff” he said. “We’ve had two good weeks of practice; it looks like the guys did a lot of work over the break.”
Millican said he put his team through four competitive rounds to get ready for the event, and he liked what he saw from his team.
“The guys are ready to play golf,” he said. “I don’t expect us losing much of our edge because of the break.
New Mexico played five tournaments in the fall, winning the Lone Star Invitational and finishing no worse than fifth in any event.
Juniors John Catlin (No. 27 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Ratings individually) and James Erkenbeck (No. 73) will lead the team at the Arizona National Golf Club, a course UNM plays annually in this event.
“The course isn’t long; the most important thing is to keep the ball in play,” Millican said. “If we can do that, we should have lots of opportunities to use short irons and wedges and get low scores.”
The Arizona Intercollegiate is the first of three events the Lobos will play during the next month.