Lobos Finish Third in Tough Field at Arizona; Two Lobos Tie for Fifth

TUCSON, Ariz. — Led by a pair of Lobos in the top-five, The University of New Mexico men’s golf team wrapped up its first tournament back in action in third place out of 17 squads on Wednesday at the Arizona Intercollegiate.

The Lobos finished third in the tough field that included six Pac-12 teams including Arizona, Oregon, Oregon State, Utah, Washington and Washington State, as well as one additional Mountain West squad in UNLV.

Two Lobos tied for fifth place overall including junior Sam Choi and sophomore Albert Boneta. Choi shot a 73 in round three after carding a 71 and 70 in rounds two and three, respectively for a total of 214, +1 on the week. Boneta wrapped up round three with a 72 after shooting a team-low 68 in round two and a 74 in round one.

Boneta tied for second-best par-3 performer on the tournament, shooting an average of 2.83 strokes (-2) on par-3 holes and also posted the second-most birdies overall (13).

Junior transfer Brandon Shong was third for UNM finishing tied for 44th with a final score of 223 (+10) followed by redshirt-senior Ross Sinclair who tied for 49th (224, +11).

Junior Ignacio Arcaya finished the tournament with his lowest round of the tournament, a 71, marking a seven-stroke improvement from round one to round three to finish +12 overall.

The Lobos finished fourth in par-3 scoring (3.17) and third in par-4 scoring (4.16). UNM also finished third in total birdies (45).

Arizona claimed its fourth straight win in its own tournament, finishing with a score of 850 (-2) followed by Wake Forest (856, +4) and New Mexico (868, +16). The Lobos were followed by San Francisco (872, +20) while UNLV rounded out the top five with a score of 877, +25.

New Mexico is set to return to action on Sunday, Jan. 14 through Wednesday, Feb. 17 at the All-American Intercollegiate hosted by Houston in Humble, Texas.