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ALBUQUERQUE, NM – Day one of the 2016 Albuquerque NCAA Regional is in the books, with the University of New Mexico men’s golf team sitting in seventh alone after posting a 6-over 294.
Head Coach Glen Millican’s thoughts on the day:
“We had a couple guys struggle, and three guys play pretty solid. I felt like we had a good front nine, but really struggled on 10-13, gave up a lot of strokes right through there. We managed to get a few back and then just made a few bogeys on 18.” said Millican.
In spite of this, UNM was able to get off to a blistering start, that start was lead by Andrej Bevins who began his round with a 3-under 33 on his opening nine. Bevins however was unable to keep up the pace and gave back the shots on the back nine, eventually coming home in even-par fashion, posting a 72. That finish landed Bevins in a tie for 10th. Bevins was also able to play the day’s par-5’s in 3-under fashion and tally five total birdies, both good for second best in the field.
Samuel Kim and Sean Carlon both find themselves T16 after posting a pair of 1-over 73’s. Kim’s day included five birdies, while Carlon tallied three. Kim currently leads the field in par-3 scoring, playing the holes at 2-under and carrying an average of 2.50. Carlon follows close behind in second at 2.75.
The blustery conditions gave a few Lobos some issues, however with the forecast not looking up for the coming days, Millican stresses patience,
“If the forecast holds up for tomorrow then it will be another tough day. We’re going to have to be patient and it’s going to be hard to shoot in the sixties. There’s not going to be a shot that we’re unfamiliar with, it’s just going to be a matter of us just playing a good round of golf tomorrow.”
Next up in the team standings is Gustavo Morantes who sits T40 after the day’s 4-over effort. While Andre Garcia struggled with the windy condition and rounds out the list of Lobos in the field, he currently sits T69 at 10-over.
“Today definitely wasn’t our best score that we could shoot out here, but all in all it was OK, it just needs to be better. We have to play better the next couple of days.”
The tournament is currently lead by Arizona State at 2-under 286, the Sun Devils were helped along by three members landing inside the Top-10 overall. South Florida follows closely behind at 1-over 289 in second place alone, Chase Koepka was the low Bull at even-par. Texas Tech and USC both came in at 3-over 291, while TCU rounds out the tournament’s Top-5.
With a bunched up leaderboard, Millican sees an opportunity, if the team can position themselves correctly,
“The scores are pretty bunched up, so if we play well tomorrow we can make up some ground on the guys that are ahead of us and hopefully get into a good position going into the last round.” concluded Millican.
On the Individual side there is a two way tie for first between South Florida’s Rigel Fernandes and ASU’s Jon Rahm. Both players posted 3-under 69’s on the day. Sean Crocker (USC) and Ryan Books (TCU) follow closely behind at 2-under.
After the day’s action only nine out of 74 players managed to post under-par scores.
The Lobos second day is set to begin at 8 a.m. MT off of the 10th tee. UNM will be paired with Texas A&M and Liberty Tuesday morning.
Lobos Sit in Seventh After Day One Action
