by Travis Weber
Daily Lobo
The UNM men's golf team captured its second-straight Mountain West Conference Championship in dramatic fashion this weekend, in Sunriver, Ore., defeating BYU in a playoff.
After three days of intense tournament golf, the Lobos found themselves right where they had started - in a deadlock with BYU. But this time five guys from each team had shot a total of 867 strokes over 54 holes.
On the first day of action, the Lobos carded a team score of 295 for 7-over-par for fifth place, trailing opening-day leader San Diego State, which scored an even-par 288.
The Lobos stepped it up on day two, though, firing an inspired 286 led by sophomore Jay Choi's 2-under-70. At the end of the day, UNM was left trailing only BYU and within reach of their second-straight conference championship.
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On the final day, the Lobos found themselves three strokes behind and shot another 2-under-286 for the day. But the Cougars failed to match the score as they shot a 1-over-289, finishing in a dead heat with the Lobos.
"The team kept their heads all weekend, and showed 100 percent patience from start to finish," UNM head coach Glen Millican said.
The Lobos kept their momentum going into the playoff as they made quick work of the Cougars by winning the first playoff hole 17-16 and with that, the outright championship.
"It was the most exciting college event I've ever seen," Millican said. "It was awesome."
The Lobos were lead individually by freshman Charlie Beljan, who was selected to the All-Conference team and voted Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year. Beljan and Choi shot total-round scores of 213, or 3-under-par, good enough to tie for fifth place. Beljan and Choi finished seven shots behind overall winner Ryan Moore of UNLV who fired a 10-under-206.
"Charlie and Jay Choi really played well," Millican said. "But everybody came up big one time or another. It was a great team effort."
Sophomore Spencer Levin finished a strong conference season by finishing ninth with a 2-over-218. Levin was also selected to the Mountain West All-Conference Team. Juniors Jay Reynolds and Madalitso Muthiya rounded out UNM scoring in a tie for 27th with scores of 12-over-228.
The Lobos now set their sights on regionals in two weeks, not knowing yet where they will be playing.
"It would be nice to be selected to the West region because then we get to go right back to Sunriver, Ore," Millican said.
The top-10 teams from each region advance to the national tournament, and Millican said he is confident the Lobos will get past regionals.
"I feel if this team prepares properly, we could do really well," Millican said.
The Lobos end conference play on a high note and with maybe a little bounce in their step after a thrilling championship win.
