June 1, 2010

Results

OOLTEWAH, Tenn. - The No. 12 UNLV men's golf team shot an opening-round 6-over-par 294 on Tuesday and is in a four-way tie for 16th place at the 2010 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship, which is being played at The Honors Course (par 72, 7,395 yards).

The Rebels are 11 shots back of co-leaders Oklahoma State and Florida State, who both shot an opening-round 5-under 283 and lead by just one shot. Oregon is third at 4-under, while Texas A&M is fourth at 3-under. Arizona State and Clemson are both tied for fifth at 2-under, while Florida and Augusta State are the last two teams to break par on Tuesday and are tied for seventh. UNLV is tied with Baylor, San Diego and UCLA at 6-over.

"Nobody really got hot," UNLV head coach Dwaine Knight said about his team's play immediately after the opening round. "We were 6-over, so probably not too bad for the way we started off. There is still a long two days to go."

Arizona State's Jesper Kennegard and Augusta State's Henrik Norlander grabbed the first-round individual lead at 4-under 68. There is a 10-way tie for third at 3-under.

UNLV sophomores Derek Ernst and Colby Smith led the Rebels Tuesday each with an even-par 72 and are in a 16-way tie for 36th place. Other Rebel players: Eddie Olson shot 2-over 74 and is tied for 65th, Brett Kanda shot 4-over 76 and is tied for 103rd, and Kevin Penner shot 5-over 77 and is tied for 119th.

Ernst had three birdies and three bogeys during the round, while Smith had four birdies and four bogeys.

"I got off to a great start, then I had a little break because there was a backup for 30 minutes or so," Ernst said. "I struggled after that. I was at two-over before shooting two-under on the back. It was an up and down round."

30 teams and six individuals not on those teams are competing for the national title this week. Stroke play will continue with 18 holes on Wednesday and another 18 on Thursday before the individual champion is crowned and the field is cut to eight teams. After the cut, the low eight teams will compete in single-elimination match-play format each day until a team champion is crowned on Sunday.

The 2010 NCAA Championship is UNLV's 17th all-time appearance (in the last 22 years) and first in the last four years. UNLV won its only team men's golf national title in 1998 in Albuquerque, N.M., and its previous best finish at the event was a second-place showing in 1996, which was at The Honors Course. UNLV also boasts two individual national champions - Ryan Moore in 2004 and Warren Schutte in 1991.

"We played really well here (at The Honors Course) in 1996 and lost by three shots to Arizona State," Knight said. "We have good memories here. Obviously, this is a whole new crew. It is a wonderful facility and I really like it."

Ernst added, "It is a great course. To think that Tiger Woods has been here and won back in 1996, it is just great to be here."

The Rebels will start round two off the first hole with tee times scheduled between 8:35 - 9:13 am EDT.