ROYAL OAKS INTERCOLLEGIATE
Team leaders: 1. Oklahoma State +14 (356-368=724); 2. Baylor +14 (356-370=726); 3. Oklahoma +20 (366-364=730); 4. New Mexico +26 (367-369=736); 5. Houston +28 (367-371=738).
Individual leaders: 1. Mikkel Bjerch-Andresen, Baylor -6 (66-70=136); 2. Guillermo Pereira, Texas Tech -3 (68-71=139); T3. Grant Hirschman, Oklahoma -1 (68-73=141); T3 Jose Mendez, Minnesota -1 (73-68=141); T5. Matias Dominguez, Texas Tech E (72-70=142); T5 Andreas Gjesteby, Baylor E (71-71=142).
Lobos: T11 Sam Saunders +3 (72-73=145); T22 Joe Abella (72-76=148), Victor Perez (74-74=148) and Gavin Green (75-73=148); T 27 Andrej Bevins +7 (76-73=149) and T 32 Andre Garcia +9 (74-77=151).
Live scoring on golfstat.com
In Dallas, Texas, when the going gets tough, the 20th-ranked University of New Mexico men’s golf team gets going.
Senior Sam Saunders is tied for 11th individually with a 3-over 145 (72-73) to lead the Lobos to a fourth-place result after the first two rounds of the 12-team tournament at the Royal Oaks Country Club.
The event features six golfers per team with the top five counting toward the score (as opposed to the normal five players and top four scores). UNM shot a 26-over 736 (367-369) and trails leader Oklahoma (356-368=724, +14) State by 12 strokes.
Baylor (356-370=726, +16) is second, followed by Oklahoma (366-364=730, +20) and New Mexico.
“They just redid the greens on this golf course about two weeks ago, and they’re really firm,” UNM coach Glen Millican said. “And then the wind was blowing at about 30 miles per hour, and that made the course really challenging.
“We like playing tougher courses because you have to get creative and have an array of shots,” Millican said. “A player like Victor (senior Perez) has every shot. When par’s a real good score, you need to be able to adapt on the fly.
Perez, who has struggled in his last two events, shot matching 74s in the first and second round and is tied for a respectable 22nd.
Saunders trails Baylor’s Mikkel Bjerch-Andressen (66-70=136, -6) by nine strokes in the individual competiton. Bjerch-Andressen was just one of four players to break par on Monday.
Three Lobos – Perez, senior Gavin Green (75-73) and junior Joe Abella (72-76) are tied for 22nd at 6-over 148.
Sophomore Andrej Bevins is tied for 27th at 7-over 149 (76-73) and redshirt freshman Andre Garcia is tied for 32nd at 9-over 151 (74-77).
“Joe and Andre both gave us a good round early,” Millican said of his two players making their debuts as part of the Lobo team.
“Overall, we had tough stretches in the middle of each round, but we recovered from both of those stretches,” Millican said. “We’ve got a chance to move up tomorrow if we can put together a pretty good round.”
The teams will play the final 18 holes Tuesday, starting at 7:30 a.m. Mountain Time with fifth-place Houston (28 over) and sixth-place Texas Tech (29 over) on hole No. 1.
The tournament is the last of the fall for UNM.