Jan. 30, 2012
Tucson, Ariz. — The University of New Mexico Lobos got a pair of superb rounds from John Catlin and James Erkenbeck as the Lobos sit in fourth place after the first two rounds of the Arizona Intercollegiate, held in Tucson, Arizona at the Arizona National Golf Course. The Lobos shot a collective 6-over for the first two rounds.
Catlin, UNM’s top scorer on the season and ranked 15th in the latest Golfstat individual rankings, was his usual self, firing off a 5-under 66 in the opening round, before overcoming a poor start to his second round to post a 1-under 70 on the par 71, 6,793 yard layout.
Catlin, starting on the par-4 seventh hole, really went to work in his final six holes of the round. At 2-under, he moved to 4-under with threes on the first and third holes, and then he stuck his tee shot on the par-3 184-yard fourth for another birdie to move to five-under. A third straight bird, and fourth in five holes moved him to six-under, but a bogey on his final hole put his opening round at a 66.
He was steady in his second round with three bogeys and four birdies, including the par-5 5th hole, his 17th of the round.
James Erkenbeck, ranked 47th by Golfstat, didn’t quite match Catlin, but his 2-under 140 has him in contention for a top-10 finish heading into the final round. Erkenbeck birdied his final hole in the opening round to get himself back to par, and on that same par 5 finishing hole in the second round, he drove the green in two and sank an eagle putt for a 2-under 69.
Despite being in fourth place, the Lobos find themselves 20 shots behind host Arizona, which shot a collective 14-under, and 10th-ranked California, which is right behind in second at 12-under. Pepperdine is barely ahead of UNM in third at four-over par. New Mexico head coach Glen Millican felt that UNM left some shots out on the course.
“Well, it wasn’t exactly what I was looking for, but we made the most of what we had,” said Millican after the first two rounds of play. “This golf course is very scoreable but you got to hit in play. We put a few out of bounds, and so you get bogeys instead of pars. That’s golf in the desert.”
While Catlin and Erkenbeck were the stars of the opening day, UNM other three golfers managed to scramble their way back from potential disasters and keep UNM in the fringes of the hunt.
“Victor Perez came back nicely in his last round. He went bogey, then had a nine and didn’t get rattled, knocking in an eagle to post a better number, and Sean (Romero) was strong in his second round, stringing together a bunch of pars in a row to close his round out.
While the Perez, Gavin Green, and Romero battled the elements including a fairly windy second round, it was Catlin and Erkenbeck that put up the red numbers.
“James and Jon had good rounds, but in terms of team scoring we didn’t get a ton out of it. We didn’t play that well as a team to put together team score, but the guys stayed together. We still have a chance to play well and be competitive in this golf tournament.”
Catlin is two shots off the pace, trailing lead John MacArthur of Pepperdine, who is at 8-under. Arizona’s Juan Pablo Hernandez is second at 7-under. Erkenbeck is tied for 10th place entering day two.
NOTES: Arizona, who leads the tournament, is ranked 44th in the latest Golfstat rankings … UTEP’s Devin Miertschen knocked in a hole-in-one on the 17th in the opening round.