ALBUQUERQUE, NM – The University of New Mexico men’s golf team has qualified to represent the Mountain West in the 2016 NCAA Men’s Golf Regionals. The Lobos will join MW rivals UNLV and San Diego State in NCAA competition. This marks the 17th consecutive season that the MW has sent at least three teams to the NCAA Regionals.
UNM is hosting this year’s Albuquerque Regional event, coming in as the No. 7 seed in the regional field. This year’s apperance marks the fifth consecutive qualification by UNM for the NCAA regional, and 46th overall trip to the NCAA’s in program history.
The Albuquerque Regional is set to be contested at the par-72, 7,562-yard UNM Championship Course. The South course was designed by Robert Lawrence and built in 1967, boasting blue and rye fairways along with a mix of Bent and Poa Annua grass on the greens. UNM’s Championship Course has hosted the NCAA Men’s National Championships in 1976, 1992 and 1998. In addition to the NCAA Women’s National Championships in 1987 and 2008.
The low five teams in addition to the lowest medalist not on any of those five squads will advance to the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon, where final team and medalist titles being decided May 27-June 1.
With the Lobos playing as host hopes are high. UNM is hoping to continue its streak of successes at the Championship Course, where the Lobos have been crowned champions of the annual William H. Tucker Intercollegiate each of the last four years. This year’s Tucker performance was record setting, a 19-stroke victory over a field including regional competitors Texas Tech, TCU and SDSU.
This year’s Regional slate includes six 54-hole tournaments being held between May 16-18, this year’s list of hosts includes New Mexico, Alabama, Arizona, Marquette, Oklahoma State and Vanderbilt.
Head Coach Glen Millican was enthusiastic about this year’s field and hopefully for the performances to come,
“It’s nice to see who will be coming to Albuquerque. The course is going to be in great shape” said Millican.
The Lobos are looking for a repeat performance of their 2013 campaign that saw the squad crowned champions of the NCAA Auburn Regional en route to a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Championship in Alpharetta, Georgia. This year the team comes in ranked 39th in the latest Golfstat rankings and No. 32 in the most recent GolfWeek standings.
UNLV earned this year’s MW automatic bid after capturing the Conference championship held April 22-24 at OMNI Tucson National in Tucson, Arizona. The Runnin’ Rebels are set to compete as a No. 5 seed in the Tuscaloosa Regional beginning Monday, May 16. The Aztecs also join in on the list of MW invitees, SDSU enters into their 18th consecutive regional as a No. 4 seed at the Albuquerque Regional.
Millican concluded with stating “I believe will be a great regional” put simply enough.
Some honors earned by the UNM Championship Course include:
- Golf Week Best Courses You Can Play State-by-State, #7, 2015
- Golf Week Best Golf Courses, Campus Courses, #21, 2014
- Best Public Golf Course in New Mexico, #5, Golf.com, 2014
- “Top 40 Daily Fee Courses in America” Golf & Travel Magazine, 2000-01
- “A four-star award in Places to Play” Golf Digest Magazine, 2000-01
- “Fourth Best Course in New Mexico” Golf Digest Magazine, 2001
- “#1 College Course Open to Non-members” New England Financial Journal, 1999
- “Top 100 Courses You Can Play” Golf Magazine, 1996, 1998-99
- “America’s Best Public Golf Courses, Top 25” Golf Digest, 1988