Lobos Head to Rebel Beach Invite to Open Spring Season
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of New Mexico women’s golf team is headed to the Rebel Beach Invitational hosted by UNLV and Long Beach State to open its spring season on Monday, Feb. 17 through Tuesday, Feb. 18. The tournament will take place on the par-72, 6,355-yard course at the Spanish Trail Country Club located in Las Vegas, Nev.
Fans will be able to follow the action via LIVE STATS.
ROUND 1 PAIRINGS
The tournament’s field consists of 11 strong competitors including four Mountain West teams: UNM, Fresno State, Nevada and UNLV. The rest of the field includes Colorado, BYU, Gonzaga, Long Beach State, Northern Arizona, UC Irvine and USC.
The Lobos will face three of the teams currently ranked in the top five in the Mountain West to open their spring season. Fresno State currently sits third in the league with an average of 294.50 strokes over 12 rounds of competition. UNLV follows in fourth shooting an average of 296.00 strokes per round over 12 rounds and Nevada rounds out the top five averaging 295.58 strokes over 12 rounds. The Lobos sit just behind the trio of squads in sixth averaging 297.83 strokes through 12 rounds.
Freshman “Jenny” Napat Lertsadwattana is the highest-ranking Lobo individually in the Mountain West as she is tied for seventh with Nevada’s Victoria Gailey. Lertsadwattana boasts an average of 74.00 strokes over 12 rounds of competition with a low round of 68.
The next Lobo ranked inside the top ten for the Mountain West is junior Caroline Jansson who sits tied for 10th with sophomore Danielle Ujimori from Nevada and sophomore Veronica Joels of UNLV. Jansson posts an average of 74.17 strokes per round with a low round of 70 over 12 rounds of competition this season.
Among the week’s competition, seven of the 11 squads have posted top-three tournament finishes including a pair of squads that have earned the top spot in tournaments so far this season.
Gonzaga has racked up a pair of first-place finishes, most recently at the Pat Lesser Harbottle Invitational where the squad finished -4 overall on Oct. 14-15. UNLV has also earned the top spot this season after claiming the win at the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown on Oct. 27-29. The Lobos have seen the Runnin’ Rebels twice so far this season, at UNM’s annual Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational and the Betsy Rawls Invite. The Lobos topped UNLV in the squads’ first meeting but finished just one spot behind the Runnin’ Rebels in their second.
Other teams to have placed top three since the start of the fall season include BYU, Long Beach State, Northern Arizona, Nevada and USC.
The first two rounds of the Rebel Beach Invitational are set to tee off on Monday at 9:00 a.m. MT/ 8:00 a.m. PT with a shotgun start followed by round three on Tuesday.