ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sophomore Sam Choi of The University of New Mexico men’s golf team was named Mountain West Golfer of the Week on Wednesday for his performance at the Arizona Intercollegiate hosted by Arizona on Jan. 27-28. Competing in a field of 14 teams including five Golfstat top-50 squads, Choi finished in third place out of 85 competitors and landed just three strokes out of first-place with a score of 206 (-7).
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Choi registered back-to-back scores of 70 (-1) in the first two rounds of the competition before shooting an outstanding 66 (-5) in round three to seal his third-place spot. His third-place finish at the tournament marked a new season-best finish and tied his career-best finish which happened a season ago at the PING Cougar Classic hosted by BYU. Choi also tied his career-low round of 66, which he posted a season ago in the third round of the 2019 Mountain West Championships.
At the competition, 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. He also led the team in birdies as he recorded a total of 13: seven in round three and three in both rounds one and two. Choi carded 35 pars across his three rounds of work, tying for sixth in the category.
Choi now has two top-5 finishes on the season, earning his first at the Maridoe Intercollegiate hosted by North Texas on Oct. 6-8 where finished fifth with a score of 221 (+5). This is Choi’s first Mountain West Golfer of the Week honor.
Choi and the rest of the Lobo squad will be back in action Feb. 20-22 as they head to the John Burns Intercollegiate hosted by Hawaii in Lihue, Hawaii.