As the weather in Albuquerque does its best impression of a schizophrenic madman, the UNM men's golf team heads to tropical Hawaii for its second event of the spring 2003 season.
The trip won't be all fun in the sun for the Lobos, however, as they will face a formidable, 15-school field and somewhat unfamiliar, sometimes unpredictable playing conditions in the John Burns Invitational near Honolulu, Hawaii.
Fresh off his sixth-place finish in the PING Arizona Intercollegiate earlier this month, senior Michael Letzig will lead the Lobo attack on the 6,916-yard, par-72 Leilehua Golf Course, Feb. 19-21.
Letzig, who moved up 10 spots to No. 32 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index, will be joined by freshman Jay Choi, junior Ian Medlock and sophomores Madalisto Muthiya and David Schultz. Junior Derek Abel will compete as an individual.
Head coach Glen Millican said his team is well prepared heading into the event.
"I think everybody's looking pretty good -- no major problems," Millican said. "You never know though, things can change as the week goes on."
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The Honolulu area has seen substantial amounts of rain in the last week, making the golf course soft and susceptible to good scoring.
"Somebody's going to shoot some low numbers out here," Millican said. "Hopefully, we can have some guys get it going and that somebody will be us."
Millican said that the soft conditions and Bermuda grass -- a much grainier variety than is typically seen at courses in New Mexico -- will take some getting used to. He added that Albuquerque-area courses have been playing exactly the opposite lately.
"We came over a couple of days early and played a few rounds of golf," Millican said. "Mostly, we're just trying to get used to the Bermuda grass and how the ball reacts on it."
Not all of the Lobos are strangers to the travails of trying to sink a tough, down-grain six-footer. Letzig competed in the John Burns last year, and Schultz is a native of Bermuda-infamous Dallas, Texas.
Different strains of grass won't be the Lobos' only natural adversary this week. Hawaii is famous for its heavy winds: the "trades" and the "Konas." Neither have been a factor so far in practice rounds, Millican said. But if the winds do get up, they can wreak havoc on the flight of a golf ball.
In addition to erratic conditions, UNM will face a talented, 15-team field that includes some of the nation's finest.
The University of Arizona Wildcats, ranked No. 8 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index, will look to make it a 2-0 spring after winning its home tournament in Tucson.
No. 2 UNLV will also try to block the 16th-ranked Lobos path to victory in Hawaii.
The Lobos will do their best to focus on playing their own games, and managing the unfamiliar conditions the golf course will offer.
"If we can get that down and hit the ball decent, we should be able to put ourselves in a position to have a good week," Millican said.
The trip to the islands hasn't been all business for the Lobos, as they have found just a little bit of time for some rest and relaxation.
"We skipped out to the beach for an hour or two, but we don't want anybody getting too sunburned," Millican said. "We've been getting up early and staying busy for the most part."
