One small step to victory

One is — not the loneliest — but the winning number.

The UNM men’s golf team won its first tournament since spring 2009 on Tuesday, with a one-stroke victory over Colorado State in the inaugural 2010 Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational in Erie, Colo. UNM shot an 859 compared to CSU’s second-place 860.
The Lobos, who were the highest-ranked squad in the 14-team field, fended off the Rams down the final stretch.

“We’re obviously very happy with the way our guys played this week,” head coach Glen Millican said. “We got off to kind of a rough start in the first round, as we shot 12-over par, and that was (on Monday) morning. That afternoon, we played our second round. We had a great effort, and the team stayed real patient after that not-so-successful morning round.”

Helping fight off defending MWC champion CSU, senior Travis Ross finished second in the tournament, outdueled only by San Jose State’s Mark Hubbard.

Hubbard shot a final-round 70, finishing the tournament with a seven-under par 209 total. It was two strokes better than Ross’ 211. He put together a four-round, five-under par performance on the 7,741-yard course.

Ross, who transferred to UNM in 2008 from St. Cloud State in Minnesota, said the team’s victory was a bigger triumph than his second-place standing.

“It’s a very big (win), because it’s the first 12-play event that we have won since I have been here,” he said. “It’s awesome because the team really played great, and we have got a group of five guys that get along great and everybody contributed. But individually, it was just kind of a bonus, and I try to keep it kind of quiet.”

Five Lobos (Ross, Sam Chavez, Tom Carlson, Tom Catlin and Ryan Gay) finished in the top 27 out of 84 golfers in the tournament. Out of the five, Gay finished tied for 27th.
Millican said team consistency is necessary to be a successful college golf program.
“It’s good to know that those guys have the ability to play well together,” he said. “You know, they compete against some of the best teams.”
Ross said it was great to beat the Rams, even though they lost a couple of members from their championship squad from last year.
“We maybe have a little bit more experience this year,” he said. “But they are the one team that we really wanted to beat this week more than anything. I am glad that we ended up winning this tournament, but it’s too bad that we don’t get to play with them more often, but it’s certainly great to get the notch under our belt.

The Lobos had a four-stroke lead heading into the final round of the tournament.
“We were in a great position coming in,” Millican said. “Colorado State did make a really strong charge, as they shot eight under (Tuesday), but it was a great tournament. I am just really proud of the way our guys hung in there the whole time and gave themselves a chance to win.”