Oct. 9, 2009
LAS VEGAS - The UNLV men's golf team, ranked No. 13 in the Golf World/Nike Golf Coaches' Poll, will be back in action next week at the Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate, which will be held Monday-Tuesday, Oct. 13-14, at the Old Overton Country Club (par 71, 6,936 yards) in Vestavia Hills, Ala.
The tournament will feature 12 teams and includes host Alabama, Auburn, UAB, Arkansas, East Tennessee State, Georgia State, Louisville, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, SMU, Texas and UNLV. The 54-hole stroke-play event will consist of two rounds (36 holes) on Monday, while the final round (18 holes) will be played on Tuesday.
Scheduled to compete for UNLV will be seniors Brett Kanda and Eddie Olson, sophomores Derek Ernst and Colby Smith, and freshman Kevin Penner.
UNLV finished fifth in last year's Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate with a total of 1-over-par 841 (282-276-283), 11 shots back of team champion Alabama, which finished at 10-under. The Rebels had two top-five individual finishers last year as Olson tied for second at 5-under 205 (66-70-69) and Ernst tied for fourth at 4-under (69-70-67).
Live online scoring will not available for this tournament, but results will be posted daily at UNLVRebels.com.
UNLV opened the fall season by winning the William H. Tucker Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M., then finished third at the Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational in Colorado Springs, Colo. In its third event of the year, the Rebels tied for eighth at the PING/Golfweek Preview in Bremerton, Wash. Ernst and Smith both tied for individual medalist honors at the Tucker Invitational.
Ernst was named the Mountain West Conference Co-Men's Golfer of the Month for September after recording UNLV's top individual performances in each of the three events.
