Lobos Finish 14th at Southern Highlands Collegiate
LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Sophomore Sam Choi of The University of New Mexico men’s golf team tied for 30th at the Southern Highlands Collegiate hosted by UNLV on Tuesday after shooting his best score of the tournament in round three. As a team, the Lobos finished 14th in the field of 15 which included seven Golfstat top-10 ranked teams.
FINAL RESULTS
ROUND TWO RESULTS | ROUND TWO RECAP
ROUND ONE RESULTS | ROUND ONE RECAP
Choi shot a 71 (-1) in round three following his 72 (E) in round two and 78 (+6) in round one to bring his three-round total to a five over, 221. The sophomore led the team in par-5 scoring as his average of 4.75 (-3) tied for fifth overall and he improved nine spots on the leaderboard over the course of the competition.
Following by just one stroke was redshirt-junior Ross Sinclair who shot scores of 78 (+6), 70 (-2) and 74 (+2) in each round, respectively, to tie for 38th at six over, 222. Sinclair registered the Lobos’ only eagle in the competition, being earned on his 14th hole of round one, hole #5 (par 4).
Junior Galven Green registered back-to-back scores of 74 (+2) in rounds two and three following a 77 (+5) in round one to wrap up the competition tied for 48th at 225 (+9). Green tied for first in par-3 scoring with an average of 2.92 (-1) and his combined 39 pars marked the third most overall.
Coming in two strokes behind was sophomore Ignacio Arcaya who carded an 11 over, 227 to tie for 58th. Arcaya shot scores of 75 (+3), 75 (+3) and 77 (+5) in each round, respectively, while accumulating 37 pars to mark the fifth most in the competition.
Freshman Albert Boneta led the team in birdies as he recorded four in round one, two in round two and four in round three for a grand total of 10. Boneta shot back-to-back scores of 74 (+2) in the first two rounds before shooting an 80 (+8) in round three. The freshman’s three-round score of 228 (+12) landed him in a tie for 60th.
As a team, the Lobos performed their best in round two as they shot a 290 (+2) to mark a 14-stoke improvement from their first-round score of 304 (+16). UNM went on to register a 296 (+8) in round three to bring its combined total to an 890 (+26), putting the team in 14th. New Mexico carded the fifth-most pars in the competition (166) and performed its best in par-4 scoring with an average of 4.16 (+24).
No. 36 Southern California took home the team title at the competition as it shot a 3 under, 861 to finish two strokes ahead of second-place No. 8 Texas (863, -1) and three strokes ahead of third-place No. 5 Texas Tech (864, E). No. 1 Pepperdine tied for fifth at 9 over, 873 while No. 2 Oklahoma finished seventh at 874 (+10) and No. 3 Georgia finished 10th at 14 over, 878.
The individual winner of the tournament was determined by a sudden-death playoff hole between Texas’ Parker Coody and Southern California’s Yuxin Lin who each shot eight under, 208 in the regular competition to tie for first. It was Coody who ultimately clinched the title, earning himself and exemption into the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open taking place Oct. 8-11 in Las Vegas, Nev.
The Lobos will be back in action on March 22-24 as they head to Charleston, S.C. to compete at Hootie at Bulls Bay hosted by South Carolina.