Team Standings: 1. New Mexico 279-276= 555, -21; 2. Colorado State 289-280= 569, -7; 3. Texas Tech 286-285= 571, -5; 4. UNLV 290-287= 577, +1; 5. 290-294= 584, +8; T6. TCU + Wyoming 294-291= 585, +9; T8. San Diego + NMSU 293-296 = 589, +13; 10. Bowling Green State 298-293 = 591, +15; 11. Nevada 301-294 = 595, +19; 12. Colorado 294-304 = 598, +22; T13. Denver 306-294 = 600, +24; T13. Louisiana Tech 307-293 = 600, +24; 15. Arizona 301-305 =606, +30; Texas El Paso 307-302 = 609, +33
Individual Standings: T1. Andrej Bevins, New Mexico and Alex Chiarella, San Diego 68-68 =136, -8; 3. Gustavo Morantes, New Mexico 66-71 =137, -7; 4. Hannes Ronneblad, Texas Tech 71-67 =138, -6; T5. Andre Garcia, New Mexico 73-67 = 140, -4; T5. Dominic Kieffer, Colorado State 68-72 =140, -4; T5. AJ McInerney, UNLV 70-70 =140, -4; T5. Jose Narro, Bowling Green State 72-68 =140, -4; 9. Henry Todd, Texas Tech 68-73 =141, -3; T10. Travis Fredburg, Nevada 69-73=142, -2; T10. Hurly Long, Texas Tech 72-70=142, -2; Brett Rinker, Bowling Green State 70-72=142, -2
Lobo Scorers: T1. Andrej Bevins (68-68-136, -8), Andre Garcia (73-67-140, -4), Joseph Abella (72-72-144, E), Gustavo Morantes (66-71-137, -7), Samuel Kim (73-70-143, -1)
Live Scoring: Golfstat.com
ALBUQUERQUE N.M. – “Attitude, composure and patience” is the recipe for Lobo success according to Head Coach Glen Millican, the first day of the team’s home tournament was filled to the brim with equal parts of these, excitement and of course birdies. The day was a success with the roster as a whole establishing it’s ability to contend.
The University of New Mexico Lobos displayed confidence, composure and competitiveness throughout Day One of the annually hosted William H. Tucker Intercollegiate by blistering to a ten shot lead by the end of the first 18 holes. The Men’s Golf team finished the day atop the leaderboard with 14 stroke lead over Colorado State, who came in with a score of 569 (-7).The day was modestly described as “solid” by Head Coach Glen Millican, who despite the advantage, continued to stress patience and concentration as keys to continued success for the team.
The Lobos were lead by Andrej Bevins who pieced together consecutive rounds of 4-under (68). Bevins was eventually matched by the strong play of Alex Chiarella, from the University of San Diego who quietly moved into a tie for first. Andre Garcia bounced back from a 1-over (73) in the first round, responding with a round of 5-under 67. Garcia’s round included a stretch of three straight birdies on the front nine and was able to carry over the momentum to the back nine where he added four more.
In the individual competition, Benjamin Tolsma and Sean Carlon are tied for second, three strokes behind the leader Giulio Castagnara from TCU. Mark MacGrath and Isaac Alderete are inside the Top-25 and are in prime position to rally and place four Lobos inside the Top-10.
Execution was greatly improved on this first day of competition in comparison to the beginning of the season at last week’s Gopher Invitational.
“Obviously the score shows that they (the team) took advantage of a lot of things out there,” said Coach Millican. “They did a great job.”
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the day was the mental attentiveness of the entire team. Coach Millican was impresssed with “how they kept their concentration throughout the day” even though “there were times out there where things didn’t go the way they wanted them to and they handled it a lot better.”
With the Lobos attempting to clinch a fourth consecutive Tucker title countinuing this display of patience is something that cannot be understated. Such a feat has not been accomplished since the unprecedented run of ten consecutive years as champions achieved by the University of Houston (1957-1967).
Next Up: Day Two of the William H. Tucker with a shotgun start at 8 a.m.
For full Team Leaderboard, click here.
For full Individual Results, click here.