Arizona Intercollegiate Final Results
Team leaders: 1. Arizona State (286-277-277=840, -12); 2. UTEP 283-286-282=851, -1; 3. McNeese State (294-283-279=856, +4). T4 Iowa State (287-278-292=857, +5; and California (286-288-283=857, +5); 6. New Mexico (286-284-288=858, +6)
Individual leaders: 1. Max Rottluff, Arizona State, 70-65-68=203, -10; T2. Martin Simonsen, UTEP, 69-69-69=207, -6; T3. Gavin Green, New Mexico, 68-72-69=209, -4, Robert Macintyre, McNeese State, 77-69-63=209 and -4 and Shotaro Ban, California, 70-70-69=209, -4.
Lobo finishers:
T3 Gavin Green 68-72-69=209, -4
T9 Sean Romero 70-72-69=211, -2
T13 Victor Perez 71-68-74=213, E
T23 Sam Saunders 75-70=145, +3
T42 Gustavo Morantes 73-74-=147, +5
T54 Joe Abella 73-76=149, +7
T63 Andre Garcia 74-77=151, +9
T68 Andrej Bevins 74-78=152, +10
In Tucson, it wasn’t quite the start that University of New Mexico men’s golf coach Glen Millican was hoping for, but the potential that the 20th-ranked Lobos displayed almost made up for the outcome.
Senior Gavin Green finished tied for third at 4-under 209, and the Lobos finished in sixth place after the final round of the 15-team Arizona Intercollegiate.
New Mexico shot a 4-over 288 in the final round for a 36-hole total 858 (286-284-288) and 6 over par. The Lobos finished 18 strokes behind champion and 29th-ranked Arizona State (286-277-277=840) at -12. UTEP finished second at 1-under 851 (283-286-282), followed by McNeese State (294-283-279=856, +4) and a tie between No. 21 California (286-288-283=857, +5) and No. 43 Iowa State (287-278-292=857, +5).
“We definitely have some work to do,” Millican said. “We made serveral careless mistakes that prevented us from competing for the championship, but we were not terrible by any means.”
Green (68-72-69) was solid with four birdies and two bogeys on the round at the Sewailo Golf Course, finishing six strokes behind individual champion Max Rottluff (70-65-68=203, -10) of ASU.
The other big Lobo performance came from senior Sean Romero, who fired a 2-under 211 (70-72-69) to finish at 2-under 211 to notch his first top-10 result since last year’s Mountain West championship. He competed as an individual and didn’t count toward the Lobo team score.
“Last year in the spring, Sean started playing really well then, too,” Millican said. “Hopefully, this tournament is a sign of things to come. He played really well this week.”
Senior Victor Perez cooled a bit after his 3-under 68 in the second round Monday afternoon. Perez shot a 3-over 74 but righted his round after going 4 over after his first five holes. He finished the tournament at even-par 213 (71-68-74), his best performance of the year by a whopping 13 strokes.
During the fall, if Perez began to strugggle, he’d wind up with a score in the high 70s or even low 80s.
“This could’ve very easily been another one of those rounds,” Millican said, “but Victor pulled it together and steadied himself. He learned a lot from how he played in the fall.”
Freshman Gustavo Morantes stayed consistent through his first tournament as a Lobo, shooting a 3-over 74 for a 54-hole total of 8-over-par 221 (73-74-74) for a tie for 42nd place.
Senior Sam Saunders, who is still working his way back from an offseason injury, shot a 7-over 78 during his final round and tied for 54th at 10-over 223 and a five-way tie for 54th place. Also included in that group was Lobo sophomore Andrej Bevins (74-78-71), who scored with an even-par in the final round.
“Sam is never going to make excuses,” Millican said. “He didn’t hit his irons very well and he didn’t putt very well, but Sam’s a great competitor and he’ll work on his game.
“Andrej made some careless mistakes this week that cost him, including today” Millican said. “But he might have done the best job since he’s been here of handling himself and overcoming those mistakes. He was able to record six birdies and make par today.”
Redshirt freshman Andre Garcia and junior Joe Abella also competed as individuals. Garcia tied for 64th at 12-over 225 (74-76-75), and Abella tied for 66th with a 13-over 226 (73-76-77).
“When you have a long layoff and things are a little loose, I think it can be harder to make corrections by yourself,” Millican said. “Hopefully, the weather will be a little better when we get back and we can play more golf to help us get going.”
The Lobos return to action at the John Burns Intercollegiate in Honolulu from Feb. 18-20.