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The UNM men’s golf team should be feeling pretty good about itself right now.
Halfway through the season, the team has consistently performed well. Ranked No. 4 in the nation by the Golfweek/Sagarin ratings, the team has competed in five tournaments so far. During those five tournaments, the team has recorded 14 wins over teams ranked in the top 25 nationally.
“(The rankings) are a nice reflection of what we’ve done up to this point,” UNM head coach Glen Millican said. “It gives our guys more evidence of what they’re capable of doing. When they go to tournaments, they don’t feel like they have to do anything they’re not capable of doing to compete.”
The Lobos have finished in the top 10 at every tournament so far this season, and have placed in the top five in all but one.
“The finishes are better than what we had last fall,” Millican said. “The tournaments we’ve played this year have had stronger fields. Even though the finishes have been comparable on paper, the actual play has been better.”
On Sept. 28 and 29, the team hosted the 58th Annual William H. Tucker Intercollegiate. The Lobos won their only team title of the season so far at the tournament, besting a field that included then-No. 21 Colorado and No. 30 Baylor.
“We finished second last year, but we won by 39 this year,” Millican said. “That’s a lot different than losing by two. The win meant a lot to us. The tournament has been going on since 1955, and we’ve only won 10 or 12 times. It’s hard to win that tournament.”
Coach Millican said he was most impressed by his team’s performance at the Isleworth Intercollegiate on Oct. 21-23. During the three-day tournament in Isleworth, Fla., the Lobos got off to a strong start and continued to improve as play went on. The team finished second by two strokes to No. 1 California.
“I think our guys did their best at Isleworth,” Millican said. “It’s one of the best, if not the best, college tournament during the season. To go to that tournament, there’s an extra level of excitement and anxiety. To go out and start off well was great, but that final round was probably the most impressive round we’ve played all year. We made California play hard on the last back-nine to hold on to their lead.”
Most recently, the Lobos traveled to Dallas on Oct. 29 and 30 to compete in the Royal Oaks Invitational. The team finished in a tie for second with Texas Tech, four strokes behind the champion, then-No. 16 Oklahoma State.
Individual success has accompanied the team’s achievements so far this season. A Lobo has finished in the top 10 for every tournament except one, including sophomore Gavin Green’s individual win at the Tucker Intercollegiate. Senior James Erkenbeck was named the Mountain West Men’s Golfer for the month of October. But the player who has blown away coach Millican has been Senior Ben Bauch.
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“Ben has been very impressive,” Millican said. “He struggled last spring and played okay this summer. He started this semester on the outside looking in. Ben has done a great job getting in and providing a big impact for us these last three tournaments.”
Senior John Catlin tied for sixth at the Sun Bowl Western Refining College All America Golf Classic. The tournament, which was held in El Paso on Nov. 19 and 20, was made up of a field of 23 All-Americans.
“That was a big tournament for him,” Millican said. “He was playing against 23 of the best players from last year; you had to have been an All-American to get invited. John didn’t play bad this fall, but being around him I didn’t get the feeling that he had been happy with his play. To see him play well, it was a good way to finish the fall.”
The Lobos will return to the action on Jan. 28 when they travel to Tucson, Ariz. for the Arizona Intercollegiate. Erkenbeck said the team is happy with the way the first part of the year played out, and is excited for the second half of the season to begin.
“The fall definitely boosted our confidence,” Erkenbeck said. “The team has never been ranked this high while I’ve been here. I’m looking forward to going into each tournament knowing that we’re probably the best team.”
