2007 NCAA West Regional Notes - UNLV Men's Golf (PDF)
Download Free Acrobat Reader
STORYLINE: The No. 6 UNLV men's golf team will compete at the 2007 NCAA West Regional, May 17-19, at ASU's Karsten Golf Course (par 72, 7,057 yards) in Tempe, Ariz. This year's regional will mark UNLV's 19th consecutive invitation to an NCAA Regional and its 18th appearance in the West. UNLV's 2006 East Regional appearance was its only time in a region other than the West. UNLV was awarded the third seed at the year's West Regional, which is one of three regional tournaments encompassing the current nine sub-regions. A total of 27 teams and six individuals not on selected teams were assigned to each regional site. The other sites are The Golf Club of Georgia (East) in Alpharetta, Ga., and Rich Harvest Farms (Central) in Sugar Grove, Ill. The low 10 teams and two individuals not on advancing teams will move on from each regional to the championship finals. UNLV is looking to qualify for its third straight trip to the championship finals as a team and its 17th appearance at the event in the last 19 years. UNLV did not advance to the NCAA finals as a team in 2001 or 2004. The 2007 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships will be held May 30-June 2 at the Gold Course at Golden Horseshoe Golf Club in Williamsburg, Va. The NCAA Regionals will have live scoring on the internet, available through UNLVRebels.com, courtesy of Golfstat.
ABOUT UNLV: The Rebels are currently ranked sixth nationally, according to the latest edition of the Golfstat Head-to-Head Standings. They are ranked ninth by the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index and 10th by the GolfWorld/Nike Golf Coaches' Poll. UNLV has played in 11 tournaments as a team this season and has finished in the top five in six events, winning two team titles (the PING Arizona Intercollegiate in Tucson, Ariz., in January and the Morris Williams Intercollegiate in Austin, Texas, in March. UNLV's top individual finish of the season was turned in by Jarred Texter, who finished second at the William H. Tucker Invitational in September. Texter leads the team in rounds played with 32 and stroke average with 71.56. He also leads the team in rounds at par or better with 18 (15 under par). He participated in the Western Refining College All-America Golf Classic in November, which was an individual event in El Paso, Texas. He finished sixth in the event.
THE LINEUP: The Rebels' five-man lineup for the NCAA West Regional will remain the same as the one used for its second-place finish at the Mountain West Conference Championship in Tucson, Ariz., in April. Participating for UNLV will be juniors C.J. Gatto and Jarred Texter, sophomores Seung-Su Han and Eddie Olson and freshman Brett Kanda. The Rebels finished one shot out of first place at the MWC Championship with this lineup.
HEAD COACH Dwaine Knight: UNLV men's golf head coach Dwaine Knight is in his 20th year at the helm of the Rebel program. During his tenure, UNLV has been a perennial power with six league championships and 16 NCAA finals appearances. His 1998 squad won the national championship. He has also tutored two individual national champions (Warren Schutte, 1991; Ryan Moore, 2004). Knight was the only mentor to twice claim GCAA National Coach of the Year honors in the 1990s (1991 and 1998) and he has produced an amazing 36 All-Americans, while guiding eight different players to the PGA Tour from UNLV.
THE FORMAT: The NCAA West Regional consists of 27 teams made up of five golfers each and another six golfers will play as individuals from teams that did not qualify for the NCAA Regionals. All 141 players will compete over 54-holes on Thursday, Friday and Saturday with 18 holes each day beginning at 6:30 a.m. MDT. The low four scores each round will count toward the team total. The top 10 teams and two individuals from teams that do not advance will go on to the NCAA Championship finals, which will be held May 30-June 2 at the Gold Course at Golden Horseshoe Golf Club in Williamsburg, Va.
THE FIELD: Four of the 27 teams in the NCAA West Regional rank among the top 10 in the nation in the latest edition of the Golfstat Head-to-Head Standings and nine of the 27 teams are ranked in the top 25. The following is the field in order by seeding along with each team's Golfstat ranking in parenthesis: Stanford (2), UCLA (4), UNLV (6), USC (10), East Tennessee State (14), BYU (17), Arizona State (18), Wake Forest (19), Arizona (25), UC Irvine (30), South Carolina (35), Washington (37), Vanderbilt (39), Augusta State (42), Pepperdine (47), San Diego State (49), New Mexico (56), Oregon State (54), Colorado State (55), Oregon (60), California (64), Nevada, Reno (76), Denver (81), Pennsylvania, Detroit, Bucknell, Monmouth. The six individuals competing in the field are: Brian Locke (Loyola Marymount), Dustin Pimm (Utah), Darrin Hall (San Diego), Michael McRae (St. Mary's), Geoff Gonzales (Cal Poly), Thomas Peterson (Pacific).
UNLV VS. THE FIELD: Head-to-head, the Rebels own a 43-15 record against the NCAA West Regional field this year. That record was assembled against 17 of the 27 opponents bound for Tempe.
UNLV'S HISTORY AT THE NCAA REGIONAL: The Rebels earned their 19th consecutive invitation to a NCAA Regional this year and it will mark their 18th appearance in the West. Last year UNLV finished 10th at the East Regional, which was its first and only regional appearance outside of the West in school history. Only twice in 18 appearances has UNLV failed to advance to the national finals (2001 and 2004). UNLV has finished in top five at the regional 15 times, has four team titles (1990, 1994, 1997 and 2005) and boasts three individual medalists (Hub Goyen, 1990; Warren Schutte, 1991; Ed Fryatt, 1994). UNLV was led at last year's East Regional by Jarred Texter, who finished tied for second at 4-under 212. He was the only Rebel player in the top 50 at the tournament.
UNLV'S REGIONAL EXPERIENCE: Two players scheduled to play for the Rebels at this year's regional have previous NCAA Regional experience. Junior Jarred Texter has appeared in two previous regional tournaments. He finished tied for second at 4-under 212 at the 2006 NCAA East Regional and tied for 39th at the 2005 NCAA West Regional. Sophomore Seung-Su Han has made just one regional appearance - a tie for 52nd place at the 2006 East Regional.
UNLV AT THE 2007 MWC CHAMPIONSHIP: In April, the Rebels finished second out of nine teams at the Mountain West Conference Championship in Tucson, Ariz. The Rebels finished just one shot back of team champion BYU. UNLV shot a 5-under-par 847 and had three individuals finish in the top 10. Sophomore Seung-Su Han finished tied for fourth at 3-under 210, junior C.J. Gatto tied for sixth at 2-under 211 and freshman Brett Kanda tied for ninth at even-par 213. Other Rebels at the MWC Championship: junior Jarred Texter tied for 13th at 2-over 215 and sophomore Eddie Olson finished 29th at 10-over 223.
ALL-MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE: Two Rebels were named to the 2007 all-conference team at the conclusion of the MWC Championship. Junior Jarred Texter and sophomore Seung-Su Han were UNLV's recipients for this season. Texter was a 2006 honorable mention All-American and is now a two-time All-MWC honoree. He was also named the MWC Freshman of the Year in 2005. Han is also a two-time All-MWC honoree as he was named all-conference in 2006 along with being named the MWC Freshman of the Year in 2006 as well.
REBELS LOOK TO GET BACK TO NCAA FINALS: With a top-10 finish at the NCAA West Regional, UNLV would advance to the NCAA finals as a team for the third straight year. UNLV tied for 19th at last year's NCAA Championship. UNLV has competed in 16 NCAA finals and won it all in 1998. The Rebels finished second as a team in 1996, which was their top finish before 1998.
EARLIER THIS SEASON AT KARSTEN: UNLV played in one tournament this season at Karsten Golf Course, the site of this year's NCAA West Regional. The Rebels finished sixth out of 16 teams at the ASU Thunderbird Invitational, which was played April 13-15. The Rebels shot 10-under 854 as a team and had their best individual finish turned in by Seung-Su Han, who finished eighth at 6-under 210.
MEDIA: Results of the NCAA West Regional will be distributed to all regular UNLV media via email following each day's competition. The tournament will also feature live scoring, available on UNLVRebels.com, courtesy of Golfstat.
