PROVO, Utah — The University of New Mexico men’s golf team sits second in a field of 20 through day one at the PING Cougar Classic hosted by BYU on Friday. The second round was suspended due to darkness and will resume Saturday morning.
Sophomore and reigning Mountain West Golfer of the Week, Albert Boneta, is currently in sixth, six under, just four strokes behind the lead golfers from Boise State and San Francisco, tied for first at -10.
No 29 New Mexico is -14 with just a few holes to go in round two, just six strokes behind No. 28 San Francisco (-20).
The Lobos started out slow, sitting in the middle of the pack through round one, but made up ground in round two to advance near the top of the leaderboard. Boneta, who has one hole left to finish in round two, birdied four straight holes on the back nine to help the Lobos move up.
Colorado State and BYU are hot on the Lobos’ tail, tied for third at -13, just one stroke behind. Colorado State is one of 12 teams to finish round two.
The Lobos have three players in the top 20 including Boneta along with a pair of freshman in Bastien Amat (-3) and Matthew Watkins (-2).
Amat shot an even 72 in round one but boasts a 65 heading into the final hole, the par-4 hole #18. Watkins has finished his second round and after posting a 70 (-2) in round one, added a pair of strokes in the second to finish +2 on the day.
Junior Brandon Shong wrapped up two full rounds of play with a score of 145 (+1) to tie for 42nd overall. Shong shot a 69 (-3) in round one before a 76 (+4) dropped him in round two.
Junior Sam Choi, the highest-ranking individual golfer in the field, rounds out the Lobo top five at +3 following a 75 in round one but he is even through 15 holes in round two with a score of 61.
The Lobos were one of 12 teams to register an eagle on the day as Boneta carded three strokes on the par-5 hole #15 in round one on the way to his score of 68 (-4) in the opening round.
UNM is second in par-4 scoring (3.97, -3) while Watkins is tied for first in par-5 scoring (4.25, -6) and Boneta is tied for fifth in par-4 scoring (3.84, -3). Choi is tied for third overall in pars with 27.
Round two will finish on Saturday morning before round three begins with a shotgun start scheduled for 9:15 a.m. MT.