San Diego Classic
Team Top 5:
1. Washington 283-291-280=854, -10
2. North Carolina (286-289-285=860, -4)
3. New Mexico (278-284-301=863, -1)
4. San Diego (287-288-289=864, E)
5. Pepperdine (286-299-283=868, +4)
Individual Top 5:
T1. Cheng-Tsung Pan, Washington (66-75-67=208, -8)
T1. Corey Pereira, Washington (69-71-68=208, -8)
3. Victor Lange, Louisiana Tech (72-68-69=209, -7)
T4. Gavin Green, New Mexico (67-67-76=210, -6)
T4. Carter Jenkins, North Carolina (70-71-69=210, -6)
Other Lobo Scorers
T15. Gustavo Morantes 71-70-76=217, +1
T25 Sean Romero 70-74-76=220, +4
T30. Sam Saunders 70-75-77=222, +6
T40. Andrej Bevins, 78-75-73=224, +8
T73. Victor Perez 79-79-72=230, +14*
* — Denotes competing as an individual.
In San Diego, Calif., they say how you respond to adversity will determine your success under similar circumstances later on.
The 25th-ranked University of New Mexico men’s golf team now has an opportunity to find out.
The Lobos shot a 13-over par 301 on Tuesday and fell to a third-place finish at the San Diego Classic on Tuesday. UNM, which entered the day with a 12-stroke lead over No. 21 Washington, ended up nine strokes behind the tournament-champion Huskies.
“It was not a very good day today,” UNM coach Glen Millican said. “It’s hard to win with the mistakes we made. We’ve got to play better. It was a good finish overall, but we weren’t good enough today with the opportunity we had.”
Washington shot an 8-under 280 in the final 18 holes to win the 14-team event with a 10-under 854. Cheng-Tsung Pan, the No. 1 collegiate golfer according to Golfweek.com/Sagarin, rallied to tie with teammate Corey Pereira for medalist honors at 8-under 208. Pan shot a 5-under 67 on Tuesday.
No. 18 North Carolina also snuck past the Lobos, shooting a 3-under 285 to finish the tournament at 4-under 860. The Lobos were at 1-under 863.
Lobo senior Gavin Green, who had a six-stroke lead entering the final round, was 5 over par after his first five holes, finished at 4-over 76 for the day and ended up tied for fourth at 6-under 210.
Ironically, the only Lobo not to finish over par was the one who had struggled during the first two rounds. Senior Victor Perez, who competed as an individual and whose scores did not count toward the team competition, finished with an even-par 72 on Tuesday.
He ended up tied for 60th at 14-over 230.
Sophomore Andrej Bevins had the best round of those whose scores counted, shooting a 1-over 73 for an 8-over 224 for the 54-hole event.
Freshman Gustavo Morantes had his best showing of the four tournaments he’s played with UNM, despite is 4-over 76 in the final round. He finished at 1-over 217 to tie for 15th.
Senior Sean Romero also shot a 4-over 76 and tied for 25th with a 4-over 220. Senior Sam Saunders shot a 5-over 77 and finished tied for 30th at 6-over 222.
The Lobos next play on March 29-31 at the Hootie@Bulls Bay Intercollegiate in Avendaw, S.C.