April 22, 1999
LAS VEGAS - Two junior golf standouts have signed national letters of intent to attend UNLV beginning in fall 1999, UNLV Golf Head Coach Dwaine Knight has announced.
Calvin Kupeyan from Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada, and Alexander Strandberg from Vanersborg, Sweden, are Knight's latest additions to his program which is currently ranked No. 1.
Kupeyan, who was the 1998 AJGA Polo Golf Junior Championship medalist after recording rounds of 69 and 67, is currently enrolled at the David Leadbetter Golf Academy in Florida. He also won this year's Atlantic International Junior Championship in Bermuda as well as the AJGA Clubcorp Junior Qualifier. In addition, he was the 1997 Provincial Junior champion.
Kupeyan also finished fifth at the World Junior Championship in England this year, sixth at the Doral Publix Junior Invitational and 18th at the 1997 World Junior Championship in San Diego.
Kupeyan chose UNLV over Florida, Texas A&M, New Mexico and Arizona.
"We were very pleased with Calvin's dedication to the game and his desire to be a great player," Knight said. "The fact that he left his high school in his senior year to spend a year at the Leadbetter Academy showed us the high goals he has for his future. He is a player that is just now reaching his mark and is coming on really strong.
"To beat the best junior players in the world at the Polo Championships was very impressive and we feel we are catching him at the right time. We are very proud to have a person of his outstanding character as a part of our program."
Strandberg finished first at the Teen-Tour and second at the Swedish Boys Championship this year. He finished fourth at the Hulta Junior Open and fifth at the SAAB Internationals.
"Alexander is the youngest member of the Swedish National Team," Knight said. "He was also a member of the Swedish Junior Team. It is very impressive to be that young and be on an international team, and his experiences this semester with the team in Italy and France will only help him.
"He was touted to us by his coaches as being the best junior player in Sweden this past year. We have come close to landing Swedish players in the past, but he is the first one that has chosen UNLV. We are very excited about his potential - physically he is very strong and he is just a tremendous competitor. The fact that he could play for their national team at such a young age is a tribute to his potential. He will have a wealth of experience coming in because of his summer experience playing all over the world."
