University of New Mexico Men’s Golf
Mountain West Championship
Team Standings: 1. San Diego State 280-280-275=835, -17. 2. UNLV 273-276-287=836, -16. 3. Nevada 280-278-285=842, -10. 4. New Mexico 282-286-275=843, -9. 5. Colorado State 287-287-291=865, +13. 6. Boise State 295-286-291=872, +20, 7. San José 293-289-292=874, +22. 8. Wyoming 295-288-298=881, +29. 9. Utah State 295-298-291=884, +32. 10. Air Force 296-291-299=886, +34. 11. Fresno State 293-301-295=889, +37.
Individual Leaders: 1. Kurt Kitayama, UNLV 65-65-72=202, -11. 2. Xander Schauffele, SDSU 67-70-67=204. 3. Nick Fuller, Nevada 70-67-69=206, -7. T4 Corey Eddings, Nevada 66-69-73=208, -5. T4Ryann Ree, SDSU 71-70-67=2-8, -5. T4 Carl Johnson, UNLV 68-72-68=208, -5.
Lobo Scorers: T9. Sean Romero 68-71-71=210, -3. 11. Gustavo Morantes 71-69-71=211, -2. T15. Sam Saunders 70-77-67=214, Gavin Green 72-75-67=214, +1. 18. Andrej Bevins 73-72-70=215, +2.
NCAA Regionals Selection Show: Monday, 8 a.m. MT, The Golf Channel
In Tucson, it wasn’t the end result that the 23rd-ranked University of New Mexico men’s golf team wanted, but at least the two-time defending Mountain West champions went down swinging.
The Lobos, who trailed second-round leader by 19 strokes heading into the final round of the 2015 MW Championship on the Catalina Course at the Omni Tucson National Resort, chipped the deficit to seven at one point in the match and finished with a 9-under 275 Sunday for a 54-hole total on 9-under 843 and finished in fourth place.
“We we’re going to have to play perfect golf, make no mistakes and get some help to have a chance to win,” Lobo coach Glen Millican said. “And even then, it was going to be tough. We did what we had to do today, but we dug ourselves too big a hole yesterday.”
No. 35 San Diego State, which trailed second-round leader and No. 24 UNLV by 11 strokes heading into the final round captured the team title after also shooting a 9-under 275 Sunday to finish at 17-under 835. The Aztecs finished one stroke better than the Rebels, which slumped to a 3-over 287 in the final round.
UNLV’s Kurt Kitayama won the individual title at 11-under 202.
UNM was sitting at 2-under through the first nine holes Sunday, when the team caught fire. Led by seniors San Saunders and Gavin Green, the Lobos got to 10 under with about four holes left to play. At that point, the Rebels ballooned to 6 over and were just three strokes ahead of UNM at 13 under.
The Lobos got as close as six shots back — they were 9 under when UNLV was 15 under — but couldn’t get any closer.
The Aztecs also caught fire and moved up to at 17 under.
SDSU got to as many as 23 under and appeared to have the title sewn up. But the Rebels regrouped as the Aztecs faltered. SDSU shot 5 over as a team to finish the round – the Lobos did the same thing in Round 1.
UNLV pulled within one stroke of even par and had a one-stroke lead with two holes left to play.
Nevada finished third at 10-under 842 after a 1-over 285 on Sunday, just a single stroke better than the Lobos in the event.
Saunders and Green both shot 4-under 67s on Sunday to finish in a 15th-place tie at 1-over 214 for the tournament. They finished 13 strokes behind Kitayama of UNLV.
“It was good to see our top two players shoot 67s to have a good feeling going home,” Millican said.
Senior Sean Romero had the low tournament for the Lobos after his even-par 71 on Sunday gave him a 3-under 210 for the event and a tie for eighth.
True freshman Gustavo Morantes also shot an even-par 71 and finished at 2-under 211. He tied for 11th.
Sophomore Andrej Bevins shot a 1-under 70 in the final round; his 2-over 215 left him in 18th place.
“We got a lot of good things out of the tournament,” Millican said. “We would’ve liked to have defended our title, but we didn’t play good enough for the entire tournament.
“Now, we’ll go home, and the players have finals coming up, so that’ll be the focus. We’ll try to get some golf and workouts in. We’ll try to stay sharp as we wait to see what’s ahead.
The Lobos now will await the announcement Monday of the selections for the six NCAA Regional events that will take place May 14-16.