Lobo Men Conclude NB3 Match Play with 1-1-1 Record
SANTA ANA PUEBLO, N.M. –– The New Mexico men’s golf team concluded play Wednesday at the inaugural NB3 Match Play, a four-school made-for-TV event airing on the Golf Channel. The Lobos fell to New Mexico State 4-1 on the final day to finish the event with a 1-1-1 record, after defeating Stanford and tying Texas yesterday.
New Mexico State won the men’s competition with 10.5 points over the three matches in the tournament’s round robin format, half a point over Texas (10.0 points), who went undefeated at the event (2-0-1). The Lobos were third with 6.5 points and Stanford was fourth with 3.0 points.
In Wednesday’s match, the Aggies jumped out to an early lead in all five matches, holding on to win four of them. Alvaro Portillo earned the Lobos’ win, using a late rally for a 2-up victory over Vari Mariscal. Portillo trailed by two holes with six holes to play before winning four of the final six holes to flip a 2-down deficit to the 2-up win. Carson Herron’s rally in his match fell short, forcing the match to go the distance before falling by a 1-up margin.
“We talked about as a team, we are going to do the best we can as a team and if they beat us, hats off to them,” said head coach Jake Harrington. “It is golf. Anything can happen, but we weren’t going to beat ourselves today. New Mexico State played great and we had some great matches and those guys made more putts than we did. It stinks to come out behind them, but that’s because we are competitive. Alvaro did a great job today and has been a leader for us over the first three events. I am proud of the guys with the way they fought. None of them gave up and we made them earn it.”
The Lobos return to action Oct. 20-22 with a trip to North Carolina for The Williams Cup, hosted by UNC in Wilmington.