In Lihu’e, Hawaii, the 27th-ranked University of New Mexico men’s golf team ran into trouble in the middle of their opening round at the John Burns Intercollegiate, shooting a 7-over 295 on Wednesday for a tie for ninth place.
Sophomore Andrej Bevins had a strong outing for UNM in the first round, shooting a 2-under 70 to position himself in a fourth-place tie. The Lobos trail leader and 25th-ranked California by 13 strokes. The Bears shot a 6-under 282 in the 16-team field at the Wailua Golf Course.
No. 24 and fellow Mountain West member UNLV is second at 1-under 287. The Lobos are tied with Washington State.
UNM was cruising along in second place at 5-under when senior Gavin Green’s tee shot on the par-3 17th hole – his 11th of the morning, went out of bounds. Green had to settle for a quadruple bogey that dropped him from 2 under par to 2 over par.
The back nine was more difficult for most of the participants. Cal was at 13 under on the front nine.
“We struggled with the putter today,” coach Glen Millican said. “The round could’ve really gotten away from us but we got through.”
Bevins, whose best finish was a seventh-place effort at the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate on the UNM Championship Course in September, had three birdies and a bogey for his round.
Senior Sean Romero, who is competing as an individual, is tied for 32nd at 2-over 74.
“Both Bevins and Romero had solid rounds,” Millican said. “Hopefully, they can keep it going the next couple of days.”
Green and fellow senior Victor Perez turned in 3-over 75s on the day, as did freshman Gustavo Morantes, to tie for 39th place.
Senior Sam Saunders is tied for 52nd after shooting a 7-over 76.
Senior Sean Romero, who is competing as an individual, is tied for 32nd at 2-over 74.
The teams will tee off at 11:30 a.m. Mountain Time on Thursday with a shotgun start. Live scoring is at golfstat.com.