ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The spring installment of the 2017 University of New Mexico’s men’s golf program is set to begin on Jan. 23-24 in Tucson, Arizona for the Arizona Intercollegiate.
UNM is slated for seven competitions from now until the opening of the Mountain West Championships in late April. The team will travel to Arizona, Nevada, California, Texas, Georgia and Oklahoma to close out the 2016-17 regular season schedule.
The team’s fall campaign included a stretch of three consecutive top-5 finishes, and a breakthrough for sophomore Sean Carlon who tallied multiple top-15 finishes. Also of note was the performance of Andre Garcia in capturing a top-3 finish at the inaugural Paintbrush Invitational.
The season is set to open at the annual Arizona Intercollegiate at Sewailo Golf Club in Tucson, Arizona and is once again hosted by the University of Arizona.
Sewalio Golf Club opened in 2013, and was designed by PGA Tour standout and New Mexico native Notah Begay III. The course is set to play at 7,262 yards with a par of 71.
The 18-team field for the spring opener includes: Arizona, BYU, California, Denver, Gonzaga, Iowa State, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico, New Mexico State, Oregon, Pepperdine, South Dakota State, Southern Illinois, Texas A&M, UCLA, UTEP, Washington and Washington State.
The format for this year’s Arizona Intercollegiate is 54-hole stroke play tournament with 36 holes being played on Monday, followed by 18 on Tuesday.
The tournament will use a shotgun start with teams teeing off at 8:00am MST on Monday, Jan. 23 and 8:30am MST on Tuesday, Jan. 24.
UNM captured a fourth-place finish in last season’s Arizona Intercollegiate behind a 4-under performance on the final day. All five Lobos finished within the top 23, and were led by Andre Garcia who shot a 1-under 70 in his final round leading him to eventually finishing in sole possession of fifth place overall at 3-under. Last year, the Lobos led the pack in par-3 scoring (3.05), pars (164) and tallied the fourth most birdies (49).
Then-freshman Samuel Kim finished the tournament in a tie for 11th at 3-over, and posted the second-lowest tournament round with a 5-under 66 to close out the tournament. Sean Carlon notched his first secured his first top-15 finish as a college player by closing out his final three holes in 2-under fashion, propelling him into a three-way tie for 14th.
Texas was crowned last year’s champion at 9-under as a team, with Washington and California rounding out the tournament’s top-3.
GolfStat will be conducting Live Scoring here.
Lobos Spring Campaign Tees Off January 23
