May 4, 2009

LAS VEGAS - The UNLV men's golf team, ranked No. 21 in the nation in Golfweek's rankings, has been awarded the fifth seed at the NCAA's Austin Regional, which will be played at the University of Texas Golf Club beginning Thursday, May 14, the NCAA announced Monday. The invitation marks UNLV's 21st straight appearance in a NCAA Regional, which is the NCAA record for most consecutive appearances.

Six 54-hole regional tournaments will be conducted May 14-16. Thirteen teams and 10 individuals not on those teams will compete at each of three regionals, while the other three reigonals will have 14 teams and five individuals not on those teams. The low five teams and low individual not on those teams will advance to the finals from each regional making up the 30 qualifying teams and six individuals to compete for the NCAA title.

"We are very happy to be back in the regionals," UNLV head coach Dwaine Knight said. "We have been given an opportunity to get back down to Austin and play the UT golf course, which we played a month ago. We have some experience playing there, which hopefully will turn into performance. We have had a lot of ups and downs this year and are very excited to be back in the regionals."

The other five regional sites are Galloway National Golf Club in Galloway, N.J., Lake Merced Golf Club in Daly City, Calif., Red Tail Golf Club in Sorrento, Fla., The Club at Olde Stone in Bowling Green, Ky., and Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla. The NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship will be conducted May 26-30 at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio. The University of Toledo is the host institution for this year's championship.

Listed below are the teams and individuals selected to participate in the Austin Regional. Teams winning automatic qualification are designated by their conferences in parenthesis.

UNLV finished one shot back - in third place - at the Mountain West Conference Championship, April 30-May 2, in its last outing. UNLV has won two tournaments this season and has turned in eight top-five finishes. The Rebels played earlier this season at the University of Texas Golf Club, where they finished 12th out of 18 teams at the Morris Williams Intercollegiate in March.

The entire field for the NCAA Regionals may be found on the NCAA's website by clicking here.

NCAA DIVISION I MEN'S GOLF - AUSTIN REGIONAL - May 14-16
University of Texas Golf Club - Austin, Texas
Hosted by the University of Texas

Teams (seeded in the following order):
1. Stanford
2. Florida
3. Texas Tech
4. Texas
5. UNLV
6. California
7. Lamar (Southland Conference)
8. Michigan
9. Texas-Arlington
10. Virginia Tech
11. Mississippi State
12. New Mexico State (Western Athletic Conference)
13. Jackson State (Southwestern Athletic Conference)

Individuals:
1. Glenn Northcutt, Auburn
2. Ken Looper, New Orleans
3. Cole Moreland, Auburn
4. Adam Cornelson, New Orleans
5. Cedric Scotto, Southeastern Louisiana
6. Jeff Gerlich, Texas State
7. Matthew Carvell, Southeastern Louisiana
8. Corey Roberson, Texas State
9. Fergal Rafferty, Sam Houston
10. Gonzalo Berlin, Jacksonville State