Feb. 23, 2001
HONOLULU - James Oh carded his third straight sub-par round on Friday to lead UNLV to a third-place finish at the John A. Burns Intercollegiate at the Leilehua Golf Course.
Behind solid play throughout the tournament from Oh (68-67-71--206), the Rebels tallied their best finish since a second-place effort last September at the Tucker Intercollegiate in Albuquerque, N.M., and turned in sub-par scored in every round. Oh, meanwhile, finished tied for fourth at 10-under par, seven strokes behind New Mexico's Michael Letzig (66-64-69--199), who claimed medalist honors at 17-under.
It was senior Scott Lander (71-68-69--208), however, who posted the best final-round score, firing a 69 on Friday to lead the Rebels' (285-275-283--843) five-under round. Lander finished tied for seventh overall and collected his second straight top-10 finish at the John A. Burns.
Despite the late charge by Oh and Lander, UNLV was unable to overcome an impressive effort by New Mexico (282-271-279--832), who at 32-under par won the event by five strokes and downed the Rebels by 11. Auburn finished second at 27-under.
Also turning in a great round for UNLV on Friday was sophomore Calvin Kupeyan (74-73-69--216), who bounced back from two rough rounds early with a 69 on the final day to finish at even par. He tied for 30th overall.
Freshman Travis Whisman (72-67-74--213), after climbing to eighth-place after Thursday's round, gave a couple of strokes back in the last round with a 74, yet still managed to finish in the top 20.
Justin Lee (77-74-78--229) rounded out UNLV's lineup, finishing 13-over par in 86th place.
Aside from the New Mexico victory, UNLV finished ahead of four other Mountain West Conference schools, including Colorado State, San Diego State, Wyoming and Utah.
UNLV hopes to carry the momentum of its performance into the Las Vegas Intercollegiate, its only home appearance of the year. The tournament is slated for March 9-11 at Rio Secco Golf Course.
JOHN A. BURNS INTERCOLLEGIATELeilehua Golf Course, Honolulu, HawaiiFeb. 21-23, 2001
Final Round Team Standings1. New Mexico (282-271-279--832) -322. Auburn (278-280-279--837) -273. UNLV (285-275-283--843) -214. Arizona (283-279-283--845) -195. Stanford (275-285-290--850) -146. Fresno State (286-286-286--858) -67. Texas-El Paso (288-282-292--862) -28. Colorado State (284-283-297--864) E9. Southern Methodist (286-293-289--868) +410. Oklahoma State (298-291-280--869) +5 San Diego State (291-290-288--869) +5
Individual Leaders1. Michael Letzig, New Mexico (66-64-69--199) -172. Lee Williams, Auburn (68-67-69--204) -12 Nick Watney, Fresno State (68-71-65--204) -124. James Oh, UNLV (68-67-71--206) -10 Anders Hultman, Oklahoma State (70-69-67--206) -10 James Lee, Stanford (67-71-68--206) -107. Scott Lander, UNLV (71-68-69--208) -8 Ricky Barnes, Arizona (69-70-69--208) -8 Philip Rowe, Stanford (68-69-71--208) -8
UNLV4. James Oh (68-67-71--206) -107. Scott Lander (71-68-69--208) -820. Travis Whisman (72-67-74--213) -330. Calvin Kupeyan (74-73-69--216) E86. Justin Lee (77-74-78--229) +13
