Choi Clinches First, UNM Finishes Second in Hawaii
LIHUE, Hawaii — Sophomore Sam Choi of The University of New Mexico men’s golf team clinched the first-place medal at the John A. Burns Intercollegiate hosted by Hawaii on Saturday to mark his first career win as a Lobo. Choi shot an outstanding 10 under, 206 on the tournament to give him a three-stroke advantage over second place and lead the squad to a second-place team finish.
FINAL RESULTS
ROUND TWO RESULTS | ROUND TWO RECAP
ROUND ONE RESULTS | ROUND ONE RECAP
Choi tied his career low round of 66 (-6) in round three after posting back-to-back scores of 70 (-2) in the first two rounds of action. Choi’s third-round score was earned with the help of five birdies and an eagle on his final hole of the tournament, hole #18. The sophomore led the team in both par-3 and par-4 scoring as his averages of 3.00 (E) and 3.90 (-3) in each category, respectively, both tied for third overall.
Choi also led the team in pars as his combined 37 also tied for third across the competition.
Following for the Lobos and tying for seventh overall was sophomore Ignacio Arcaya who shot a four under, 212 in the competition with scores of 74 (+2), 66 (-6) and 72 (E) in each round, respectively. Arcaya’s seventh-place finish marks a new career best and his score of 66 in round two ties his career low round. The sophomore carded 14 birdies throughout the competition, leading the team and tying for second overall in the category.
Freshman Albert Boneta shot scores of 71 (-1), 74 (+2) and 70 (-2), respectively, to finish tied for 22nd at one under, 215. Boneta led the team in par-5 scoring, averaging 4.25 (-9) to tie for third overall in the category. The freshman’s 13 birdies also tied for third as he registered five in round one and four in both rounds two and three.
Coming in two strokes behind was junior Galven Green who shot a combined score of one over, 217 to tie for 30th. Green improved his first-and-second-round scores of 74 (+2) by five strokes in round three as he carded a 69 (-3) with the help of six birdies. Overall, Green performed his best on par-4s, averaging 4.03 (+1) to tie for sixth in the category.
New Mexico’s individual senior Sam Dickey shot scores of 78 (+6), 71 (-1) and 73 (+1) in each round, respectively, to land in a tie for 67th at six over, 222. Coming in three strokes behind was redshirt-junior Ross Sinclair who finished with a three-round total of 225 (+9), shooting a 76 (+4) in round one, a 74 (+2) in round two and a 75 (+3) in round three.
As a team, the Lobos finished in second place at 14 under, 850 after posting scores of 289 (+1), 284 (-4) and 277 (-11) across their three rounds, respectively. UNM finished second in par-5 scoring (4.53, -28), third in par-3 scoring (3.17, +10) and fourth in par-4 scoring (4.09, +13). The squad finished second in birdies (57) and its 163 pars tied for sixth overall.
New Mexico landed just five strokes behind the first-place finisher No. 10 Texas A&M (845, -12). Of the Lobos’ six ranked opponents, UNM finished ahead of five: third-place No. 15 BYU (856, -8), fourth-place No. 43 Illinois (857, -7), T7th No. 28 California and No. 6 Arizona (866, +2), and 11th-place No. 14 North Carolina (869, +5).
The Lobos’ second-place finish marks their fourth-straight top-5 finish this season and their second finish in the top-2.
UNM will be back in action Sunday, March 1 – Tuesday, March 3 as it heads to the Southern Highlands Collegiate hosted by UNLV in Las Vegas, Nev.