Sep. 21—New Mexico men’s golf didn’t win the team title at its home tournament, but it did have the top two individuals.
Alvaro Portillo defeated teammate Carson Herron on the third playoff hole on Saturday to win the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate, his first collegiate victory. Portillo and Herron each shot 8-under over 54 holes at the UNM Championship Course.
UNM, which was 21-under over the opening 36 holes on Friday, shot 10-over during the final round to finish the event at 11-under, one shot behind Colorado at 12-under.
The Buffaloes were the only team to shoot under par during Saturday’s windy conditions. Long Beach State (3-under), UNLV (2-over) and Grand Canyon (4-over) rounded out the top five.
“We put ourselves in position to win, but you have to take your hat off to Colorado,” said head coach Jake Harrington. “The wind was nasty over the last hour of play and it came down to the final holes. Those guys made a couple of pars on No. 3, one of the toughest par-3s, especially in that wind, to seal the deal. It’s a team loss and we didn’t lose it on any one shot or hole.
“When you lose a 10-shot lead, it’s tough,” he said. “I told the guys you have to learn from it, take constructive criticism, and bounce back. Hopefully at the end of the season, we will look back at this as a turning point in a positive way.”
Portillo led the Lobos on Saturday with a 1-over 73. Herron, who had the 36-hole lead, shot 75 on Saturday in the final round. Oliver Cage shot 74, Mesa Falleur shot 76 and Wyatt Provence shot 77 to round out the UNM lineup.
In the playoff, Portillo and Herron both had birdies on the first hole and pars on the second hole. Portillo used a birdie on the third hole of the playoff to become the Lobos’ first individual champion at the Tucker since Andrej Bevins in 2015-16.
“What a great tournament for Alvaro and Carson,” Harrington said. “They led us the whole way and without them, we wouldn’t have had a chance at the team title. Alvaro came up huge and battled the whole time. It is always tough to be in a playoff against a teammate. He won with a birdie, and that’s what I wanted. I wanted one of those guys to go out and win it, and that’s what Alvaro did. I couldn’t be more proud of him.”
New Mexico State shot 6-over on Saturday and 14-over for the tournament to finish in eighth place at the invitational.
Javier Delgadillo was the top Aggie individual, in 12th place, after shooting even par for the tournament. St. Pius grad Aidan Thomas also turned in a top-20 finish as he finished at 1-over and in 17th place. Aggie freshman Mateo Payan fired a final-round 69 (3-under) to shoot 49 spots up the leaderboard and finish in 24th place to mark the largest jump by an individual during the final round of play.
The Lobos and the Aggies return to action Oct. 8-9 in the NB3 Matchplay Championship at Twin Warriors Golf Club on the Santa Ana Pueblo. The four-school event, featuring the men’s and women’s teams from New Mexico, New Mexico State, Stanford and Texas will be broadcast live on Golf Channel.
