University of New Mexico Men’s Golf
Up Next: National Invitational Tournament
Host: Arizona
Dates: Feb. 28-March 2
Course: Omni Tucson National (par-73, 7,262 yards), Tucson, Ariz.
Participating teams: Arizona, No. 21 California, Colorado State, No. 50 Iowa State, No. 24 New Mexico, New Mexico State, Oregon State, San Diego, No. 26 San Diego State, San José State, Santa Clara, St. Mary’s, No. 29 TCU, UTEP, Wyoming
Lobos in the field: Andrej Bevins, Gavin Green, Gustavo Morantes, Victor Perez, Sam Saunders Sean Romero is competing as an individual
Live scoring: Birdiefire.com
The 24th-ranked University of New Mexico men’s golf team seems to have found its game. It was in Hawaii all this time.
Now, coach Glen Millican is looking to find out whether the Lobos left their game on the Islands.
UNM, fresh off a second-place finish at the John Burns Intercollegiate last week, is back in action at the National Invitational Tournament from Saturday-Tuesday in Tucson, Ariz., at the Omni Tucson National Catalina Course.
“It’s good to go back out and play when you’ve just had a good tournament,” Millican said. “We had very good second and third rounds in Hawaii, and the guys are feeling good about their games.”
The most promising aspect of the Lobos’ play on the islands was that their second-place effort took place despite a subpar tournament from senior Gavin Green. He had to shoot a 4-under 68 in the final round just finish in the top 20 at the John Burns, tying for 17th at 4-over.
Seventeenth was the lowest finish among the Lobo team members at the event.
“Gavin’s game has been a little loose,” Millican said. “He’s been hitting left a bit his last couple of times out and it’s hurt him. But he is as competitive as they come. He still didn’t have a perfect round in the final round in Hawaii, but he found a way to put the ball in the hole.
In Green’s stead, sophomore Andre Bevins had his best finish since September at UNM’s own William H. Tucker Intercollegiate. Bevins shot a 3-under 213 to finish in seventh place in the 93-player field. He tied for seventh at the Tucker.
Senior Victor Perez has back-to-back 13th-place finishes this spring after struggling all fall. Senior Sam Saunders still is trying to get healthy from a couple of issues over the break but finished 12th in Hawaii.
True freshman Gustavo Morantes finished 16th at 3-over 219 in just his second event as a Lobo, and senior Sean Romero also has played solid golf in the spring.
UNM’s goal is to get back to the NCAA Championships in late May after missing out on a trip last season by finishing sixth by a single stroke at the NCAA Auburn Regional. The top five teams from each of the six regions advance to the championships.
The 2011-12 team did the same thing, and when it came back in 2012-13, it finished fifth at the NCAA Championships, losing to eventual national champion Alabama in a match-play quarterfinal.
“All options are still on the table,” Millican said of the prospects of history repeating itself. “But it’s still going to take us playing really well together. We did it in Hawaii; I’m looking forward to seeing whether we can make that a habit.”
The NIT has double significance for the Lobos; it also serves as the host of the Mountain West Championship in the beginning of May.
“It’s a course that most of us know, but Gustavo hasn’t played it before, Millican said. “So that will give him good experience for conference play.”
The Lobos finished sixth in the 14-team field last season, but Millican said his team is capable of making a run similar to the one that the 2012-13 produced.
“They’re definitely capable of doing what that team did,” Millican said. “It’s just a matter of doing it on a consistent basis.”
Millican will get to study his team further in the next few weeks and find out more about whether they can turn in similar performances.
“This is kind of what we usually do this time of year, try to play some tournaments and get some momentum established,” the 14th-year Lobo coach said.