May 2, 2009
Results
TUCSON, Ariz. - The No. 22 UNLV men's golf team shot a final-round 1-over-par 285 on Saturday and finished in third place, one shot off the lead, at the 2009 Mountain West Conference Men's Golf Championship, which was played at the Catalina Course at OMNI Tucson National (par 71, 7,136 yards).
The Rebels finished at 7-under 845 for the tournament, just a shot behind TCU and San Diego State, which played extra golf to decide the conference championship. The Horned Frogs and the Aztecs both set the MWC Championship record for lowest team score for 54 holes with their respective totals of 8-under 844. TCU was 4-over during the final round, while SDSU was the only team to break par on the final day, posting a 3-under 281. TCU won the team title by defeating SDSU on the first playoff hole to win its first league men's golf title since joining the conference in 2005.
New Mexico finished fourth at 4-under, while Colorado State was fifth at 2-over. BYU followed in sixth at 4-over, Wyoming was seventh at 21-over, Air Force was eighth at 23-over and Utah was ninth at 27-over.
New Mexico's Steve Saunders won the individual championship with a 9-under 204, setting two individual records for both 54-hole low score and largest winning margin, with a four shot victory. With his 7-under 64 on Friday (low single round), Saunders set three individual records at the tournament this week. Saunders made 12 birdies and an eagle over the three-day event and wrapped up play with an even-par 71.
Ji Moon led the way for UNLV by finishing second at 5-under 208. Moon shot 2-over 73 on Saturday. TCU's Johan de Beer and Tom Hoge, and SDSU's Bryan Martin all tied for third at 4-under.
Other Rebel players: Derek Ernst finished and Eddie Olson both tied for 13th at 1-over 214 after final-round scores of 2-over 73 and 5-over 76, respectively. Colby Smith tied for 20th at 3-over 216 after a final-round 3-under 68 and Brett Kanda tied for 24th at 4-over 217 after a final-round even-par 71.
At the conclusion of the championship, the league announced the all-conference team and league awards. UNLV had two representatives on the 10-person All-MWC Team in Ernst and Olson. Saunders was named the golfer of the year, Colorado State's Zahkai Brown was freshman of the year and TCU's Bill Montigel won coach of the year. Other all-conference team members were Air Force's Tom Whitney, BYU's Brady Johnson, New Mexico's Saunders, Colorado State's Brown and Dustin Morris, San Diego State's Johan Carlsson and TCU's de Beer and James Sacheck.
The field for the NCAA Regionals will be announced on Monday, May 4.
