University of New Mexico Men’s Golf
NCAA San Diego Regional
Team Standings: 1. Oklahoma 284, -4. 2. East Tennessee State 289, +1. 3. Wichita State 292, +4. 4. St. Mary’s (Calif.) 295, +7. T5. San Diego and Virginia 297, +9. T7. Eastern Kentucky, Georgia Tech 299, +11. 9. Arizona State 300, +12. 10. Idaho 302, +14. 11. New Mexico 303, +15. 12. Georgia 307, +19. 13. Mississippi 314, +26.
Individual Leaders: T1. Grant Hirschman, Oklahoma and Gudmundur Kristjansson, East Tennessee State 69, -3, -6. T3. Max McGreevy, Oklahoma, Adrian Meronk, East Tennessee State and Grant Bennett, Wichita State 70, -2.
Lobo Scorers: T13. Gavin Green 73, +1. T32 Gustavo Morantes 75, +3. T47. Sam Saunders 77, +5; T55. Andrej Bevins, 78, +6. T69. Sean Romero 82, +10.
Live Scoring: Golfstat.com
In Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., the University of New Mexico men’s golf team has rallied before. It may have to do it again for a spot in the NCAA Championships.
The 23rd-ranked Lobos shot a 15-over 303 on Thursday during the first round of the NCAA San Diego Regional and sit in 11th place. They trail leader Oklahoma (4-under 284) by 19 strokes, but more importantly, they are six shots behind a trio of teams tied for fifth.
The top five teams in the 13-school field will advance to the NCAA Championship in Bradenton, Fla., beginning May 29.
“We just didn’t play very well in the first round,” UNM coach Glen Millican said. “We need to regroup and play well tomorrow to get back into position to advance.”
The 15th-ranked Sooners lead a procession of upstarts – based upon rankings – heading into the second round at the Farms Golf Course.
No. 41 and seventh-seeded East Tennessee State (in the current Golfweek/Sagarin poll) is second at 1-over 289. No. 98/12th-seeded Wichita State is third at 5-over 293. No. 11 seed and 69th-ranked St. Mary’s (Calif.) is fourth at 7-over 295 and ninth-seeded No. 56 San Diego and fifth seeded/No. 25 Virginia are tied for fifth at 9-over 297.
Meanwhile, top-seeded Arizona State (No. 6) is ninth at 12-over 300 and second-seeded Georgia Tech (No. 10) is eighth at 11-over 299.
Senior Gavin Green played a steady round for UNM, shooting a 1-over 73 for a tie for 13th-place after the first 18 holes. After bogeying two of his first eight holes – New Mexico’s players started on Hole No. 10 – Green went 1 under over the final 10 holes.
He is four strokes off the pace of the leaders Grant Hirschman of Oklahoma and Gudmundur Kristjansson of ETSU, who shot 3-under 69s.
Lobo freshman Gustavo Morantes is tied for 32nd after a 3-over 75. He started off strong with two birdies through his first seven holes, but a double-bogey on No. 8 halted his momentum and he finished 3 over for his final 10 holes.
Senior Sam Saunders fired an opening-round 77, although he did finish with a birdie to give him momentum heading into Friday’s second round.
Sophomore Andrej Bevins had a bad patch on Nos. 14-17 – his fifth through eighth holes – that cost him a better score. Bevins was 5 over on those four holes and 6 over for the round with a 78.
Senior Sean Romero struggled with his opening round of 10-over 82 and a tie for 69th place – although he, too, birdied his final hole to give him a better outlook heading into Friday.
The Lobos will tee off Friday with Idaho and Georgia, beginning at 9:55 a.m. MT.