Round Two Paused in Arizona; Boneta and Choi Lead Lobos
PHOENIX, Ariz. — It was a long day in Arizona on Friday as the field at the Thunderbird Collegiate hosted by Arizona State failed to complete round two due to darkness. Juniors Albert Boneta and Sam Choi lead the University of New Mexico men’s golf team through nearly two rounds tied for ninth and 13th overall.
The Lobos, one of eight teams in the field to be ranked in the top 35 in the nation by GolfStat (31), are ninth overall with just one hole left to play in round two. UNM is -7 while the top eight teams finished round two with scores between -30 and -15.
TCU leads all squads with a score of 538 (-30), followed by No.3 Oklahoma State (542, -26) and Utah (544, -24).
Choi, the second-highest ranked individual in the field (No. 20), was the only Lobo to finish both rounds and is tied for 13th overall with a score of 136 (-6). He finished the first round with a score of 69 (-2) after posting five birdies and two bogeys before finishing the second round tying his season-best score of 67 (-4) with five birdies and just one bogey.
Choi totaled 10 birdies and is tied for second in par-5 scoring through two rounds.
The leading Lobo through 35 holes is Boneta, tied for ninth overall. Boneta finished round one with the lowest score for a Lobo so far this season, 65 (-5) and is -1 through 17 holes in round two.
The remaining three Lobos in the lineup are currently +4 and +5 with one hole left as freshman Matthew Watkins made his collegiate debut with a 75 in round one. He is even heading into the last hole of round two.
Freshman Bastien Amat was +1 after round one and is +4 with just one hole left and is tied with junior transfer Brandon Shong, who also finished round one +1 and is +4 heading into the final hole of round two.
The current leader on the tournament is No. 95 Blake Tomlinson of Utah who is -11 through two rounds, just four strokes ahead of Boneta and five ahead of Choi.
The Lobos and two other squads, which were the last to tee off on Friday morning, will complete round two first thing Saturday morning before beginning round three. Fans can follow the results live via GolfStat.