New Mexico Lobos Women’s Golf — At The Silverado Showdown
Where: Silverado Resort and Spa – North Course (par 72 – 6,253 yards)
The Field: New Mexico, California, Colorado, Colorado State, GRU Augusta, Harvard, Hawaii, Long Beach State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Oregon, Oregon State, San Jose State, Washington State and Wisconsin.
Lobos: Alexandra Moisand, Manon Molle’, Eva Saulnier, Ingrid Gutierrez, Katerina Jaeger.
NAPA, Calif. – To win a Mountain West Championship, you need a solid mental game to go along with precise ball striking and consistent putting.
Lobo Coach Jill Trujillo says her Lobos will be looking for all three of those aspects beginning Monday at the Silverado Showdown hosted by Colorado and Oregon of the Pac-12.
But maybe the mental game is the Lobos’ No. 1 priority in their upcoming bid to defend their 2014 league title.
This young team needs to believe – needs confidence to take into the upcoming Mountain West chase especially considering the talent and experience the Lobos will confront from UNLV and San Diego State.
And confidence not only produces good golf, but good golf produces confidence. The Mountain West Championships will be held April 20-22 in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
The Lobos need to shoot some good golf in order to challenge for the Silverado title.
The Lobos have yet to card a team score under 300 this season and they have finished either last or next-to-last in their past four tournaments. Washington won the Silverado team title in 2014 with scores of 289, 292 and 280. The individual winner in 2014 threw out a card of 68-71-68=207.
“We’ll be working on our mental game for sure,” said Coach Trujillo. “We are looking for consistency and low, consistent scoring. We need to hit fairways and hit greens. I think everyone is in a really good state of mind and they are really determined.
“I’m expecting us to play well in Silverado.”
The Silverado Showdown field includes California, Colorado, Colorado State, GRU Augusta, Harvard, Hawaii, Long Beach State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Oregon, Oregon State, San Jose State, Washington and Wisconsin.
“Anytime you are going head-to-head with Pac-12 schools, it’s a bonus because they are so good,” said Trujillo. “This type of field will help us for the conference championships.”
The tournament begins Monday with 36 holes and the 54-hole event ends Tuesday with the final 18 holes.
Silverado’s North Course has been ranked as the No. 22 course in California by Golfweek. It recently has been redesigned by Johnny Miller, a PGA Hall of Famer. The course presents water, elevation changes and a lot of big oak trees. The course has been the site of six PGA and Senior PGA events since 1968.
The North Course can be a challenging course and there is plenty of trouble to find with an errant shot.
“We need to get away from high numbers on a couple of holes,” said Trujillo. “We have had some bad holes really hurt us.
“I think we are ready to shoot some good numbers.”
Trujillo also is hoping to get a breakthrough tournament from her No. 1 golfer, Manon Molle’. Molle’ missed the fall season due to a broken bone in her foot. She will carry a solid 74.56 scoring average into the Silverado Showdown, with her best finish 21st out of 88 golfers at the Arizona Wildcat Invitational. Molle turned in cards of 71, 77, 74 to earn that Top 25 finish.
“Her foot still hurts her. She’s in pain,” said Trujillo. “But if you were to ask her, she would just shrug her shoulders and say she’s fine. We try not to push her but collegiate athletes have to place mind over matter.
“Mimo (Molle’) is ready for a good finish at Silverado and a good finish at the conference championships as well.”
The Lobos will get a good look at a Mountain West competitor in the first round as UNM is scheduled to tee off with Colorado State of the MW and Washington State of the Pac-12. The tourney field also includes San Jose State of the Mountain West.
UNLV is ranked No. 16 by GolfStat.com and San Diego State is ranked No. 22. New Mexico is ranked No. 122. San Jose State carries a ranking of 47 and Colorado State is at 100.