Men's Golf Six Strokes Back After Two Rounds
TUCSON, Ariz. — The University of New Mexico men’s golf team battled through some tough winds on day one of the 2021 Mountain West Championships and sit in fifth place with an even par through the first two rounds, just six strokes behind the tournament leader.
The top five squads are all a total of six strokes apart with Boise State leading the way (570, -6), followed by San Diego State (571, -5), UNLV (573, -3), Nevada (574, -2) and UNM (576, E). The next squad, Colorado State, is six more strokes behind the Lobos while the bottom half of the leaderboard spans 29 strokes.
All five Lobos finished in the top 25 of the field, scoring just one shot apart down the lineup.
Leading the way for the Lobos is junior Sam Choi, who entered the tournament ranked No. 26 in the country as an individual. Choi sits tied for ninth place with a score of 143 (-1), just five strokes behind the tournament leader (-6). Choi shot a two-over, 74 in round one before chopping five strokes off his game in round two for a second-round score of 69 (-3).
After carding all pars, with the exception of two bogeys in round one, Choi stepped up in the second for five birdies to jump up on the leaderboard.
Freshman Bastien Amat (72-72) finished the first two rounds just one stroke behind and is tied for 12th heading into the final round on Saturday.
Sophomore Albert Boneta and freshman Matthew Watkins tied for 16th with a two-round total of 145 (+1), followed by junior Brandon Shong who was +2 (146) after carding a one-over 73 in both rounds.
Among individual hole scoring, Watkins is tied for second in par-4 scoring (3.95, -1) while Choi is tied for third in pars (27) and tied for fourth in par-3 scoring with an even 3.00. Boneta is leading the Lobos in birdies with eight, tied for eighth among the field.
New Mexico will complete Mountain West competition with the third and final round on Saturday morning, teeing off at 9 a.m. PT, 10 a.m. MT.
