The New Mexico State men’s golf team finished their second spring tournament in tenth place in the Border Olympics in Laredo, Texas hosted by the University of Houston. The Aggies shot up three places from being tied for thirteenth at the end of day one in the 54-hole men’s tournament.
The first day was true to form for the Aggies, with the team tied for thirteenth after the first two rounds with a final score of 293 and 292 for their first two respective rounds.
The team was led by sophomore Javier Delgadillo, who claimed his second top-finish of the spring season. Delgadillo scored 208 (-8) across the three days. Like the rest of his teammates, he saw a significant improvement on the third day, shooting a 66 (-8) after two 71’s (-1) the previous day.
Delgadillo credited his score drop to his last two birdies, which came only after his coach reminded him to play as he always does.
“Having confidence from my coach definitely helped me, it helped me close the day with two birdies,” Delgadillo said.
Delgadillo is not the only player who used the confidence of their coach to change their game in the final round. Freshman Vari Mariscal also saw a significant drop in scores in the third round.
Mariscal shot above par in the first two rounds, with an 80 (+8) and 75 (+3) on his first day but was not defeated by a rough start. He said that he managed to come through a play well on the third day, making par and finishing with a 3-day total of 227 (+11).
“We get off to slow starts, we struggle at the start, and we’ve been trying to figure out how to come out of the gate swinging more, but we always seem to play better in the final round” Mariscal said.
While the Border Olympics saw strong finishes for all players, the team is hoping to improve their game in time for next week’s Lake Las Vegas Intercollegiate Tournament in Henderson, Nevada. The previous two tournaments have presented a learning curve for the team, but they hope they may be able to put in a strong finish as usual.
The Lake Las Vegas Intercollegiate Tournament will kick off on Monday, Feb. 26 through Wednesday Feb. 28. All updates will be posted on the official NMSU Athletics website.
