Choi Takes 3rd; Lobos 4th at Arizona Intercollegiate
TUCSON, Ariz. — Sophomore Sam Choi of The University of New Mexico men’s golf team finished third overall at the Arizona Intercollegiate hosted by Arizona on Tuesday. As a team, the Lobos finished fourth out of the 14-squad field which included five of Golfstat’s top-50 ranked teams.
FINAL RESULTS
ROUND TWO RESULTS
ROUND ONE RESULTS
DAY ONE RECAP
Choi shot equal scores of 70 (-1) in both of his first two rounds before carding a 66 (-5) in round three to bring his three-round total to 206 (-7), just three strokes away from the first-place tie between Washington’s Henry Lee and Arizona’s Trevor Werbylo. Choi’s third-place spot marks a new season-best finish for the sophomore and his third-round score of 66 (-5) is a new season-low round. Choi led the team in both par-4 and par-5 scoring, shooting averages of 3.91 (-3) and 4.44 (-5) in each category, respectively and his par-5 average tied for second overall in the category.
Choi also led the team in birdies as he recorded an outstanding 13: seven in round three and three in both rounds one and two.
Junior Galven Green jumped up 17 spots on the leaderboard throughout the tournament to finish in a tie for 19th with a score of 215 (+2). Green improved his score in each round, carding scores of 74 (+3), 72 (+1) and 69 (-2), respectively.
Following by one stroke and finishing tied for 23rd was individual redshirt-sophomore Brad Cole who shot a three over, 216. Cole registered a new season-best finish at the competition and his first-round score of 71 (E) marked a new season-low round.
Sophomores Ignacio Arcaya and Roy Choi each shot three-round scores of five over, 218 to tie for 31st overall. Choi led the team in pars with a total of 36 and his third-round eagle on hole #8 was good for one of the Lobos’ two recorded in the tournament.
Following for UNM was redshirt-sophomore Ross Sinclair and individual senior Sam Dickey who each shot scores of nine over, 222 at the competition. Sinclair led the team in par-3 scoring as his average of 2.83 (-2) tied for second overall. Sinclair shot his best score of the tournament in round three with an even 71 while Dickey performed his best in round two, shooting a 72 (+1).
Freshman Albert Boneta wrapped up the competition with a three-round total of 11 over, 224. Boneta shot his best score of the tournament in round two, registering an even 71 with the help of three birdies and an eagle on his fifth hole, hole #8.
As a team, the Lobos shot scores of 293 (+9), 284 (E) and 278 (-6) in each round, respectively, to finish the tournament three over, 855. UNM finished second in total pars (167) and its par-3 average of 3.08 (+5) came in third in the category.
Four of the five Golfstat top-50 ranked teams in the field occupied the top four spots on the leaderboard. Host Arizona (No. 11) took home the team title for the third year in a row as it shot a 21 under, 831 to land nine strokes ahead of second-place No. 12 Baylor (840, -12). New Mexico (No. 36) finished just three strokes away from third-place Washington (No. 17) which shot a three-round even total of 852.
The Lobos finished four strokes ahead of the fifth-place finishers Iowa State and Mississippi State (859, -7), as well as 27 strokes ahead of in-state rival NM State which finished 13th at 30 over, 882.
UNM will be back in action on Feb. 20-22 as it heads to Lihue, Hawaii for the John Burns Intercollegiate hosted by Hawaii.