April 23, 2007
LAS VEGAS - The No. 5 UNLV men's golf team will compete at the 2007 Mountain West Conference Men's Golf Championship beginning on Thursday, April 26 at the Catalina Course at Tucson National (par 71, 7,136 yards) in Tucson, Ariz.
The 2007 championship will mark the first time in the last seven years that the MWC Championship has not been held in Sunriver, Ore. The first championship was played in Palm Desert, Calif., in 2000.
UNLV won the inaugural MWC Championship in 2000 and again in 2002, and will be looking for its third MWC title this week. BYU won in 2001 and New Mexico is the four-time defending champion, winning in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006.
Individually, UNLV has had two winners of the MWC Championship with Michael Kirk claiming medalist honors in 2000 and Ryan Moore in 2004.
Last year, UNLV finished third as a team at the MWC Championship, nine shots behind New Mexico. UNM's Jay Choi earned medalist honors, while Matt Kinsinger and Jarred Texter were UNLV's top finishers - both in a tie for sixth place, three shots back.
Competing for the Rebels in this year's MWC Championship will be Jarred Texter, C.J. Gatto, Seung-Su Han, Eddie Olson and Brett Kanda. Texter has played in two previous MWC Championships with his best finish coming last year when he tied for sixth. He tied for ninth in 2005. Gatto and Han have each played in one MWC Championship, with Gatto finishing tied for 20th last year and Han tying for 25th. This year will mark Olson's and Kanda's first MWC Championship appearance.
Play at the 54-hole tournament will begin each day at 8:30 a.m. with 18 holes each day from Thursday through Saturday.
UNLV has won two team titles this season (the PING Arizona Intercollegiate at Arizona National Golf Club in Tucson, Ariz., in January, and the Morris Williams Intercollegiate in Austin, Texas, in March). As a team, UNLV has turned in five top-five finishes this year. UNLV's best individual finish this season is a second-place finish by Texter at the William H. Tucker Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M., in September.
UNLV finished seventh and sixth in its last two outings, respectively. The MWC Championship will mark UNLV's third tournament this season in Tucson, but only the second at Tucson National. UNLV finished seventh at the National Invitational Tournament, April 2-3, at Tucson National.
Live stats for the MWC Championship will be available through a link on UNLVRebels.com.
