April 29, 2004

Results

SUNRIVER, Ore. - The UNLV men's golf team sits in sixth place after the first round of play at the Mountain West Conference Championship on Thursday.

Despite their low standing on the leaderboard, the Rebels are just eight strokes behind San Diego State for the team lead. The Aztecs carded an even par 288 and lead Colorado State by one shot.

CSU was fueled by the play of senior Martin Laird, who blistered the course with an eight-under 64. That score breaks Laird's own tournament record of 66, shot last year.

SDSU's Mark Warman was the only other player to break 70 at the par-72, 7,568-yard Crosswater Course at Sunriver Resort. Warman sits one stroke ahead of four players who signed scorecards of 70, including UNLV's Ryan Moore.

As for the Rebel team, Ryan Keeney shot 74 and the rest of the lineup all carded a four-over 76 to account for its eight-over total.

While only eight strokes separate the top six teams in the league, UNLV sits a distant 11 strokes ahead of Wyoming and 24 shots ahead of Air Force.

Second round play at the Mountain West Conference Championship will begin at 9:30 a.m. PDT.