Local golf: Standout UNM men's, women's teams fueled by each other's successes

May 31—Editor's note: This is the first in a weekly summer series of a local golf coverage package that will appear each Thursday in the Journal's sports section. For tips on stories or other information, please email sports@abqjournal.com.

Sometimes, things just go hand-in-hand.

For instance: New Mexico women's golf finished tied for ninth overall at the NCAA women's championships in Scottsdale, Arizona. It was their highest finish in 25 years and UNM was a shot here, or a shot there, away from advancing to match play with the other top seven qualifiers.

Led by seniors Jenny Lertsadwattana (tied for 18th overall) and Lauren Lehigh (T-21), the Lobos went under par — twice — for the first times ever at an NCAA championship.

"It seems a little surreal," UNM women's golf coach Jill Trujillo laughed, "now that I have to go back to real life and go grocery shopping and pull weeds in the yard and all that kinda stuff."

A week later on the same Grayhawk Golf Club course, New Mexico men's team rode in hot, after a blistering regional performance, and finished tied for 25th, their highest finish since advancing to match play in 2013. Junior Matthew Watkins made the first individual cut, eventually tying for 29th after an opening 66 put him in immediate contention.

"You lose a three-time All-American (former New Mexico and current Pepperdine golfer Sam Choi), so on paper, you should probably have more work to do," UNM men's coach Glen Millican said. "But as it turns out, our guys had a great year, won two (tournaments) and advanced further in the NCAA tournament than we did last year."

Altogether, two weeks around the firm greens and deep rough at Grayhawk set up the best combined finish for the UNM men and women in years they both made the NCAA Tournament since 2004.

The significance of that isn't lost on either coach.

"It was a really, really awesome family affair," Trujillo said.

"The better they are, the better we'll be, and vice versa," Millican said.

It's a finish more fitting than not. Two former golfers at UNM, Millican and Trujillo have been friends since the mid-1990s. UNM men's and women's golf share the same office on campus. Same training facility. Separate programs, sure, but the connection between both teams is far from understated.

Their respective roads to Grayhawk? Also more similar than not. Both teams had good fall runs, but didn't light the world on fire. Both were probably a little lower in the rankings than they would have preferred, the women at No. 54 and the men at No. 66 with a full spring ahead.

Maybe it wasn't the exact same circumstances, the exact same moment. But both teams had a similar realization: some work had to be done.

"I would never have to ask this particular team to stay and work after we're done with regular practice," Trujillo said. "But they always did. They came in on their own, they worked on their own. And I feel like it was just normal (to them) that they would shoot under par, because they knew all of them were capable of doing that."

Millican is a little more blunt in his assessment.

"They had to grind," he said plainly.

For New Mexico's men's program, a patient approach was just as important as the work. A stronger spring schedule meant not winning wasn't the worst thing — but they had to place.

"You just can't force it," Millican said. "You just have to continue to focus on the fundamentals, focus on the aspects of being a student-athlete that are going to make you better. And just knowing that if you're talented and you do the right things, at some point, it's going to happen.

"And it did."

Regionals was where everything came together, the Lobo men playing "almost the best golf anybody could play" at The Cliffs at Keowee Falls in Oconee County, South Carolina. New Mexico carded a brisk 42-under, the lowest 54-hole score in program history on their way to finishing fourth overall and claiming one of five spots for their first NCAA championship appearance since 2017.

As for New Mexico women's golf, the final stretch of their season was shaped by two comebacks. A combined 8-under final round set the Lobos up for a come-from-behind win over San Jose State in the Mountain West tournament at the Dinah Shore Championship Course at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California, an automatic NCAA regional berth ensured.

Then, an NCAA regional at TPC San Antonio. The Lobos woke up the morning of the final round in seventh place, six strokes behind Auburn for the fifth and final qualifying spot. A combined 1-under third round punched their ticket to their first NCAA championship appearance since 2010.

"I'd like to say I have fun every season," Trujillo said, "but there's something about winning and doing really well that kind of catapults you into another zone. And I think the most fun part about it is just to see it in their eyes, like going over the golf course, and they know what they have to do. And then they do it."

Looking ahead? Both program's futures are more similar than not, each returning the vast majority of its tournament lineup for 2023-24.

"When you come to (NCAAs), maybe you missed the cut, there's obviously areas you are exposed to that can be improved," Millican said. "But there's also opportunity to realize how close you are to being where you wanna be. Those are the things we're going to learn from this event that our guys were exposed (to) that's going to help them be more prepared for when we get to this position again in the future."

And both will be vying to get back and do even better.

"One thing we found out is that nobody's gotta become better at golf. We just probably have to become a little bit more efficient and a little bit better at adjusting to new conditions when you get to an event like that," Millican said. "You have to get through it to know what it's all about. But we were playing hard until the end."

"Next season will be next season," Trujillo said. "And it doesn't matter what you're ranked and it doesn't matter what happened (last season). All this is gone. We start fresh every single August."

NCAA finishes

Years both UNM men's and women's golf qualified:

2023 — M (t-25), W (t-9)

2007 — M (29), W (22)

2004 — M (16), W (t-15)

1998 — M (16), W (t-8)

1996 — M (t-6), W (17)

1995 — M (12), W (15)

1993 — M (24), W (16)

1988 — M (18), W (14)

1987 — M (28), W (t-7)

1985 — M (23), W (t-6)

1982 — M (t-24), W (8)