ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of New Mexico men’s golf team is gearing up to close out its fall slate at the 14th-annual Saint Mary’s Invitational hosted by Saint Mary’s this Monday, Nov. 4 – Wednesday, Nov. 6 in Monterey, Calif. The tournament will take place at the 7,002-yard, par-71 Poppy Hills Golf Course.
Fans will be able to follow along with their Lobos via Golfstat live stats. To view live stats, click HERE.
The field for the tournament will be made up of 16 teams including four Mountain West competitors: New Mexico, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State. The rest of the field includes host Saint Mary’s, Arizona, BYU, Coastal Carolina, Oregon, Oregon State, Pacific, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Toledo, UNC Wilmington and Utah.
Of the 16 teams competing, four are ranked in the top 25 of the NCAA Division I golf rankings: BYU, Arizona, Oregon State and Colorado State. BYU is the only team that sits in the top-10, holding the sixth spot, while Arizona, Oregon State and Colorado State hold the 14th, 17th and 20th spots, respectively.
BYU’s Peter Kuest who set a course record this season at UNM’s annual William H. Tucker Intercollegiate on Nov. 27-28, also holds the course record at the Poppy Hills Golf Course after carding a 61 (-10) just a season ago.
Of the Mountain West competitors, San Diego State currently leads in the Golfstat conference rankings, averaging 5.64 strokes under par and holding an average team score of 281.27. Colorado State and Fresno State occupy the fourth and fifth spots, respectively, with averages of -0.56 and 0.00 vs. par. The Lobos are sitting ninth in the conference as they are averaging four strokes over par.
Four MW squads have recorded team wins on the season, UNM at the home William H. Tucker Intercollegiate, SDSU at the Bill Cullum Invitational on Oct. 14-15, San José State at the Visit Stockton Pacific Invitational on Oct. 21-23, and Colorado State at both the Ram Master’s Invitational (Sept. 16-17) and the Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate (Oct. 7-8).
UNM enters the tournament following a tie for fifth at the Royal Oaks Intercollegiate hosted by Baylor on Oct. 21-22. Redshirt-junior Ross Sinclair led the Lobos at the competition as he shot a three under, 210 to finish in a tie for 12th. As a team, UNM shot a three-round total of 851 (-1) to tie with Charlotte.
The first round of the Saint Mary’s Invitational will tee off on Monday at 8:30 a.m. and will be followed by round two on Tuesday and round three on Wednesday.