No. 17 Men’s Golf Second Following First Day at RMAC Championships

GOODYEAR, Ariz. – No. 17 Western New Mexico University men’s golf team was able to improve their overall positioning during the second round as they moved from third into second following the first two rounds of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships Monday at the par 72, 7,017 yard Golf Club of Estrella.

The Mustangs opened with a 296 and came back with a second round 291 to card a 587 to sit in second. Colorado School of Mines caught fire in the second round trimming 19-strokes off their first round score to post a 581 to lead the Mustangs by six heading into the final round. Colorado State University-Pueblo is just a shot back of WNMU with a 588. Colorado Christian was in the top-three after the first round, but slipped to fourth with a 599. Nick Berry from Colorado Mines leads on the individual side with a six-under 138, as he was eight-under during the second round to lead by three-strokes.

Juniors Calum Hill (Kinross, Scotland/Kinross HS) and Thomas Neve (Epsom, England/Cams Hill School/Merrist College), along with sophomore All-American Harry Wetton (Bedford, England/The Bedford School) paced the Mustangs with the trio in the top-seven. Hill is just one-stroke ahead of both teammates with rounds of 72 and 74 for a 146 to sit in fifth. Hill posted six birdies on the day and is near the top in that category. In terms of par scoring he is in the top-10 in all three, tying for seventh in both par-three (3.00) and par-five (5.00) and is tied for eighth in par-four (4.00). Neve and Wetton flipped scores during their rounds to each card 147’s to tie for seventh. Neve rebounded from an opening round 76 to card a 71, while Wetton opened strong with a 71 and then ended with a 76. The 71 was the low round for any Mustang throughout the first day. Neve posted seven birdies, with four coming during the second round. Wetton had six birdies, all in the first round. Neve is tied for second in par-five (4.75) and tied for eighth in par-four (4.00). Wetton is in the top-10 in all three with his top coming in par-three scoring (2.75) where he tied for third. He is tied for seventh in par-five (5.00) and tied for eighth in par-four (4.00).

Junior Deryk “Buzz” Perales opened with a 77 and then during the second round tied for the second-best round on the team with a 73 to post a 150 and sit in 17th. Perales caught fire during the second round as he had just one birdie through the first 18, then came back with four during the second 18. He landed in the top-10 in par-five scoring (5.00) good to tie for seventh. Rounding out the top-five for WNMU was junior Ben Skinner (Hertfordshire, England/Lorretto Academy) who came back strong after an opening 80 to tie with Perales for the second-best second round score of 73 to tally a 153 and sit in 21st. He tallied seven birdies, with four coming in the first round. He tied for seventh in par-three scoring (3.00).

WNMU will look to make their move during the third and final round of the RMAC Championships beginning on Tuesday with a shotgun start at 7:30 a.m. (Pacific Time).