Jan. 29, 2010

LAS VEGAS - The UNLV men's golf team, ranked 15th in the country in the latest Golfstat rankings, will open its spring season at the Arizona Intercollegiate, which will be played Monday and Tuesday, Feb. 1-2, at Arizona National Golf Club (par 71, 6,793 yards) in Tucson, Ariz.

The 54-hole tournament will consist of 36 holes played on Monday and 18 on Tuesday, with 14 teams scheduled to compete.

The field consists of California, Florida, Fresno State, Nevada, Reno, New Mexico, Northern Colorado, Pepperdine, San Diego State, Texas A&M, Texas-San Antonio, UTEP, UNLV and host Arizona will field two squads.

The tournament will have shotgun starts each day with play scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. MST.

Last year's Arizona Intercollegiate was won by Pepperdine (286-279-290=855, +3), while the individual title went to Tennessee's Chris Paisley (68-66-67=201, -12). UNLV tied for fourth at last year's event (291-281-294=866, +14) and was led by Derek Ernst's tie for ninth place (75-70-68=213, E). Ji Moon (70-71-75=216, +3) and Colby Smith (71-70-75=216, +3) were also in the top 20 for the Rebels as they each tied for 15th.

Playing for UNLV this year will be Ernst, who is currently ranked as the sixth-best individual in the country, Smith, Brett Kanda, Kevin Penner and Jeremiah Wooding.

Live scoring of the tournament will be available off a link at UNLVRebels.com, courtesy of Golfstat.

UNLV competed in five tournaments in the fall, capturing two team titles and turning in an additional top-five finish. The Rebels won at the William H. Tucker Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M., in September, then again in October at the Herb Wimberly Intercollegiate in Las Cruces, N.M. UNLV finished third at the Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational in Colorado Springs, Colo., in September.

Ernst won two tournaments, tying for first at the Tucker and Wimberly events, while Smith won one event, also tying for first at the Tucker.