University of New Mexico Men’s Golf
Up Next: 3M Augusta Intercollegiate
Dates: April 4-5 (36 holes Saturday, 18 holes Sunday
Course: Forest Hills Golf Club (par-72, 7,161 yards), Augusta, Ga.
Participating teams: No. 2 Illinois, No. 3 Texas, No. 20 Oklahoma State, No. 25 New Mexico, No. 31 Georgia, No. 34 Clemson, No. 35 Houston, No. 37 Virginia Tech, No. 49 (host) GRU Augusta, Central Florida, Coastal Carolina, Middle Tennessee, Purdue, USC Aiken, Tennessee
Lobos in the field: Andrej Bevins, Gavin Green, Gustavo Morantes, Sam Saunders, Sean Romero and (individual) Victor Perez.
Live scoring: Golfstat.com
In Augusta, Ga., the 25th-ranked University of New Mexico men’s golf team has flirted with greatness during the spring season.
The team has one final stroke-play tuneup before the tournaments officially measure UNM’s greatness in 2014-15.
The Lobos begin the second leg of their East Coast swing with their participation in the 15-team 3M Augusta Invitational at the Forest Hills Country Club on Saturday and Sunday. UNM finished 10th in the 15-team event last season.
This year, nine ranked teams, including the Lobos, will play in the event – including No. 2 Illinois and No. 3 Texas.
“We’re excited to be back in Augusta for the 3M,” coach Glen Millican said. (Host) GRU Augusta and Forrest Hills run a first-class event and attract a great field. The (15-team) field and the course create a big-time college tournament will provide our team another opportunity to test ourselves.”
After a sixth-place showing at the Arizona Intercollegiate in January to start the spring season, UNM has three runner-up finishes and one third-place result in its last four events. And that third-place finish – at the San Diego Classic in early March – was a tournament in which the Lobos had a double-digit lead heading into the final round.
But the Lobos righted their ship earlier this week with a runner-up finish at the Hootie’s at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate in Awendaw, S.C., finishing behind only No. 7 South Carolina and beating five other ranked teams, including then-No. 4 Auburn.
“Playing well at the Hootie was a nice way to start the trip, and our guys should be in a good frame of mind playing this weekend.”
Especially, senior Gavin Green, who led the Lobos’ cause with a share of the individual medalist honors at 11-under 208, helping him add to his school record for tournament victories with eight.
UNM will go with the same five it had at the Hootie’s at Bulls Bay event with Green and fellow seniors Sam Saunders and Sean Romero, sophomore Andrej Bevins and freshman Gustavo Morantes.
But for senior Victor Perez, who is competing as an individual, the tournament gives him another opportunity to break out of what for him as been a season-long slump.
Perez, a three-time All-Mountain West selection who came into his senior year with a 72.54 career strokes-per-round average, has struggled to a 74.67 average this season. He has played better this spring, scoring a pair of top-20 finishes and shot the low practice round among the golfers on the team before the team flew east.
If Perez can recapture his All-MW form, that could the final ingredient that pushed the Lobos over the border into greatness.