University of New Mexico Men’s Golf
Mountain West Championship in Tucson, Ariz.
Team Standings: 1. UNLV 273, -11. T2. San Diego State and Nevada 280, -4. 4. New Mexico 282, -2. 5. Colorado State 287, +3. T6. Fresno State and San José 293, +9. T8. Boise State, Utah State and Wyoming 295, +11. 12. Air Force 296, +12
Individual Leaders: 1. Kurt Kitayama, UNLV 65, -6. 2. Corey Eddings, Nevada 66, -5. T3 Nahum Mendoza, SDSU, Xander Schauffele, SDSU and Grant Booth, Nevada 67, -4.
Lobo Scorers: T6. Sean Romero 68, -3. T8 Sam Saunders 70, -1. T13. Gustavo Morantes 71, E. T26. Gavin Green and Andrej Bevins, 73, +2.
Live Scoring: Golfstat.com
In Tucson, the 23rd-ranked University of New Mexico men’s golf team showed its prowess in the long ball during the first round of the Mountain West Championship.
The Lobos, however, need to improve upon the shorter holes if they want to three-peat as conference champs.
Senior Sean Romero shot a 3-under 68, and the Lobos finished with a 2-under 282 and are in fourth place after Friday’s first round on the Catalina Course at Omni Tucson National. The Lobos dropped five strokes on the last three holes to put them in a bit of a hole with a nine-stroke deficit heading into Friday’s second round
“We played OK, but it was definitely not our best finish,” coach Glen Millican said. “And then UNLV played great. When somebody plays great like that, it gives them a cushion and puts some distances between them and the rest of the field.”
The No. 24 Rebels lead the event with an 11-under 273 as Kurt Kitayama also is the individual front-runner after an opening-round, 6-under 65.
No. 35 San Diego State and Nevada are tied for second at 4-under 280.
UNM topped the field in the par-5 holes on Friday, shooting 8-under collectively in the three long-distance holes. But the Lobos were 8-over on the par-3s and par-4s combined.
“We definitely did a lot of good things,” Millican said, “but we also made some mistakes that we need to correct.”
Romero is tied for sixth in the tournament. Senior Sam Saunders is tied for eighth at 1-under 70. Freshman Gustavo Morantes, who shot UNM’s only eagle on the day, at the par-5 eighth hole, is tied for 13th at even-par 71.
Defending MW champion Gavin Green and sophomore Andrej Bevins both labored through the first round and are tied at 2-over 73, good for a share of 26th place.
Millican said Green, the No. 9 golfer in the nation, according to the latest Golfweek.com/Sagarin rankings, had a couple of three-putt holes and lost one ball out of bounds.
“He’s fine,” Millican said. “We know he’s capable of turning it around tomorrow (Saturday) with a great round.”
The Lobos will tee off with Utah State and Colorado State at 9:40 a.m. MT on Saturday. The event concludes on Sunday.