ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of New Mexico men’s golf team is set to head to Tucson, Ariz. for the second time this season to compete in the National Invitational Tournament (N.I.T.) hosted by Arizona State on Monday, March 18. The two-day tournament will be held at the 7,262-yard, par-72 Catalina Course at Omni Tucson National.
Fans will be able to follow live stats of the tournament via Golfstat. To view live stats, click HERE.
The Lobos will be competing against a field of 16 strong teams including four Mountain West squads: Colorado State, San Diego State, UNLV and Wyoming. The rest of the field includes host Arizona State, Colorado, Iowa State, North Texas, Oklahoma, San Diego, USC, Utah, UTEP and Washington State.
Three of the teams competing in the tournament are top-10 nationally ranked teams. Arizona State and Oklahoma hold the fourth and fifth spots respectively, while. USC is ranked seventh.
New Mexico is sitting fifth in the Mountain West with an average score of 289.38, shooting 3.88 vs par. The Lobos are following closely behind fourth-place Wyoming which is shooting 3.54 vs par, while UNLV is in second as it is shooting 2.14 against par on the season. Colorado State is sixth in the conference, shooting 4.00 vs par with an average team score of 290.36, while SDSU is in seventh with its 4.48 vs par score.
UNM faced both Colorado State and San Diego State just one week ago at the Lamkin Grips San Diego Classic co-hosted by San Diego State and San Diego. The Lobos finished that tournament tied for seventh with a score of 14 over, 878 which was nine strokes ahead of Colorado State’s 887 (+23) and six strokes behind SDSU’s 872 (+8). Arizona State took first at the tournament to snag its second tournament win of the season as it shot 10 under 854 and led the competition in all three rounds.
Lobo freshman Sam Choi enters the tournament following a top-10 finish at the Lamkin Grips as he shot an even 216 to finish tied for 10th. Redshirt-sophomore Ross Sinclair came in just three strokes behind as he tied for 20th while tying for second in the competition in par-3 scoring.
The first two rounds of the National Invitational Tournament are set to tee off on Monday at 9:00 a.m. MT followed by round three on Tuesday.