University of New Mexico Men’s Golf
Up Next: John Burns Intercollegiate
Host: Hawai‘i
Dates: Feb. 18-20
Course: Wailua Golf Course (par-72, 6,992 yards), Lihu’e, Hawaii
Participating teams: No. 19 Virginia, No. 24 UNLV, No. 25 California, No. 27 New Mexico, Arizona, BYU, BYU-Hawai‘i, Colorado State, Fresno State, Long Beach State, Hawai‘i, Hawai‘i-Hilo, Santa Clara, Texas A&M, UTEP
Lobos in the field: Andrej Bevins, Gavin Green, Gustavo Morantes, Victor Perez, Sean Romero, Sam Saunders
Live scoring: Golfstat.com
In terms of consistency, University of New Mexico senior golfer Gavin Green has been on an island. Coach Glen Millican is hoping a trip to the islands gets the rest of the Lobos to join him.
The 27th-ranked Lobos are in Lihu’e, Hawaii this week to compete in the John Burns Intercollegiate at the Wailua Golf Course. The 16-team field will play 18 holes Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
New Mexico is coming off a sixth-place finish in the 15-team Arizona Intercollegiate in Tucson last month to start the spring season. Green took third place in the event with a 4-under 209. Senior Sean Romero, who was competing as an individual, rather than part of the UNM team, finished in a ninth-place tie at 2-under 211.
The rest the Lobos finished from 13th (senior Victor Perez at even-213) to 68th place.
It was an event that has typified the Lobos’ season so far – with the exception of their own Tucker Intercollegiate, where they ran away with a 14-stroke victory – Green and a couple of other Lobos turning in solid scores but the rest of the team all over the scoreboard.
Green has six top-10 finishes in seven events, this season, which is to be expected of the No. 7 collegian in the U.S., as ranked by Golfweek.com/Sagarin as well as the No. 7 player in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.
He finished 16th in the only event that he didn’t earn a top-10 finish.
“Gavin is they guy that has given us good finishes each time out,” Millican said before the team left for Hawaii. “Everybody else has played well at one time or another, but we haven’t had everybody playing well at the same time.”
For example, the 13th-place finish Arizona Intercollegiate was the best finish this year for Perez, a three-time All-Mountain West selection. Romero was 41st in his only other event.
Senior Sam Saunders finished tied for fifth at the Tucker but has just one other top-20 finish among his six starts.
Sophomore Andre Bevins had a seventh-place showing at the Tucker but has only one other top-20 finish in six events.
“The good news is four of our guys have played the course before,” Millican said, “so there will be no surprises. This will be a good chance for some of our guys to get going. We have three tournaments over the next three weeks or so, so we have an opportunity to get some momentum.”
The Lobos are returning to Tucson from Feb. 28-March 2 for the National Invitational Tournament and then will compete in the San Diego Classic from March 9-10.
“I think if we can get on the same page in one event, that will just help us down the road.”
Millican says he doesn’t think his team is that far off, even though it is that far off this week with the trek to Hawaii. For the Lobos, it’s more a matter of timing than of distance.