Lobos Finish Fifth at George Hannon in Austin
AUSTIN, Texas — The University of New Mexico men’s golf team wrapped up the George Hannon Invitational hosted by UT Austin on Tuesday in fifth place overall in a field of stacked squads. The Lobos placed fifth behind four teams ranked nationally in the top 20.
No. 27 New Mexico was tied for eighth after the first round but jumped up three spots after round two, cutting nine strokes off the team score to finish two under in the second round. In round three Tuesday, the Lobos shot a 295 (+11) to finish +16 on the competition.
No. 12 Texas took first, finishing -17 over three rounds, followed by No. 19 Texas Tech and No. 2 Oklahoma, which tied for second with a final score of 843 (-9).
After carding a one-under 70 in the first two rounds, junior Sam Choi shot a 72 in round three to finish one under (212). Choi tied for third overall in par-4 scoring (3.91, -2) and tied for fourth overall in pars with 38. He also accumulated nine birdies.
Sophomore Albert Boneta was the second Lobo on the leaderboard finishing +1 with scores of 70, 71 and 73 through three rounds. He tied for 16th overall. Boneta led the Lobos in birdies with 11, tying for ninth overall in the category.
Junior Ignacio Arcaya tied for 42nd after missing the last competition. Arcaya’s best round came in round two when he shot an even 71. He finished with a 74 in round three to finish +8 overall.
The final two Lobos in the lineup tied for 50th and 54th overall in redshirt-senior Ross Sinclair and freshman Bastien Amat, respectively. Sinclair shot a 75 in round one, shaved off three strokes in round two for a 72 before shooting his highest round of the tournament in round three with a 76. He finished +10 on the tournament.
Amat rebounded from his round-one 78 to shoot a one-under, 70, in round two before carding a 76 on Tuesday. He finished +11.
As a team, New Mexico was fourth among all teams in birdies with 45 and finished fifth in par-4 scoring (4.12, +19).
New Mexico has another short turnaround as the Lobos head to Tucson, Ariz. on March 20-21 for the N.I.T. hosted by Arizona at the Omni Tucson National Golf Course. It will be the Lobos’ opportunity to preview the course before they play the Mountain West Tournament there in May.