ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sophomore Sam Choi of The University of New Mexico men’s golf team earned his second Mountain West Golfer of the Week honor on Wednesday after clinching his first collegiate win at the John A. Burns Intercollegiate hosted by Hawaii on Feb. 20-22. Competing in a field of 21 squads including six Golfstat top-50 ranked teams, Choi finished 10 under, 206 to land three strokes ahead of second place, leading the Lobos to a second-place team finish.
The honor marks Choi’s second Mountain West Golfer of the Week honor in just three weeks.
OFFICIAL MOUNTAIN WEST RELEASE
Choi shot back-to-back scores of 70 (-2) in the first two rounds of the competition before tying his career-low round of 66 (-6) in round three. Choi registered the Lobos’ only eagle of the competition on his final hole, hole #18 of round three, to seal both his low round of 66 and clinch his overall score of 206 (-10).
The sophomore led the Lobos to a second-place team finish as the they finished ahead of five of the six Golfstat top-50 ranked opponents. Choi led the team and tied for third in both par-3 and par-4 scoring with averages of 3.00 (E) and 3.90 (-3) in each category, respectively, and his 37 pars also tied for third overall. Choi shot 12 birdies at the competition, including three in round one, four in round two and five in round three.
The MW Golfer of the Week honor comes just three weeks after Choi earned his first on Feb. 6 for his performance at the Arizona Intercollegiate hosted by Arizona on Jan. 27-28. At that competition, Choi finished in third place out of 85 competitors and landed just three strokes out of first place with a score of 206 (-7). Choi has now registered a new top finish in both of his past two tournament appearances.
Choi and the rest of the Lobos will be back in action Sunday, March 1 – Tuesday, March 3 as they head to the Southern Highlands Collegiate hosted by UNLV.