Sept. 3, 2008

LAS VEGAS - The UNLV men's golf team, ranked 22nd in the country in the Golf World/Nike Golf Division I Preseason Coaches' Poll and 23rd in Golfweek's preseason rankings, will open its season this weekend on Saturday and Sunday, September 6-7, as it will compete at the 40th Annual Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational. The tournament will be played at the Eisenhower Golf Club's Blue Course in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The 54-hole stroke-play tournament will consist of 36 holes on Saturday starting at 8:15 a.m. MT, while the final 18 holes will begin Sunday, also at 8:15 a.m. MT. The course is set up as a par 72 and will play 7,301 yards. The field will include 17 teams: Air force, Air Force JV, Colorado State, Long Beach State, New Mexico, Northern Colorado, Northern Iowa, Sacramento State, Southern Utah, UCCS, UNLV, Utah, Utah State, Utah Valley, Washington State, Weber State and Wyoming.

Last year's Falcon Invitational was won during a playoff by Wichita State over Iowa State. Both teams shot a three-round total of 852 (-12). The Shockers' Ryan Spears captured medalist honors with a tournament-record 203 (-13), finishing four strokes ahead of Iowa State's Chris Baker. UNLV did not compete in last year's tournament.

Scheduled to compete for UNLV this weekend will be senior Seung-Su Han, juniors Brett Kanda and Eddie Olson, sophomores Ji Moon and Jeremiah Wooding, and freshman Colby Smith. One of those six players will be playing as an individual. It has not yet been determined which player that will be. There will be no live scoring for this tournament. Daily recaps and results will be available at UNLVRebels.com.

UNLV is entering its 22nd season under head coach Dwaine Knight and the squad returns six letterwinners from last season.