Sept. 17, 2010
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV men's golf team will open its 2010-11 season on Sunday, Sept. 19, as it will compete at the 42nd Annual Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational. The two-day tournament, which is being hosted by Air Force, will be played at the Eisenhower Golf Club's Blue Course (par 72, 7,363 yards) in Colorado Springs, Colo., and conclude on Monday, Sept. 20.
The 54-hole stroke-play tournament will consist of 36 holes (two rounds) on Sunday and 18 on Monday, with each day's competition starting at 8:00 a.m. MDT.
Scheduled to compete for UNLV will be freshman Blake Biddle, junior Derek Ernst, sophomore Kevin Penner, junior Colby Smith and senior Jeremiah Wooding. The 18-team field for the Falcon Invitational includes Air Force, Air Force JV, Colorado, Colorado State, Denver, New Mexico State, Northern Colorado, Northern Iowa, San Diego, Southern Utah, UCCS, UNLV, Utah, Utah State, Utah Valley, UTEP, Weber State and Wyoming.
Colorado State is the two-time defending team champion at the Falcon Invitational winning in 2008 and 2009. The Rams won last year's tournament with a score of 9-under-par 855. UNLV finished third at 4-under in the 2009 event. Northern Colorado's Steve Bidne captured medalist honors last year with a 10-under 206, winning the tournament by four strokes.
Ernst, a third-team All-America selection last season and also the Mountain West Conference's Player of the Year, led UNLV at last year's Falcon Invitational with a seventh-place finish at 3-under 213. Smith, an all-conference honoree last season, and Penner, both finished 25th at 2-over 218, while Wooding is the only other returning Rebel to the event as he finished 56th last year at 8-over.
There will be no live scoring for the Falcon Invitational, but daily results will be posted at UNLVRebels.com.
UNLV is entering its 24th season under head coach Dwaine Knight and this year's squad returns just four letterwinners from last season. UNLV finished 21st at last year's NCAA Championship and over the course of the season won a total of four team titles - the program's highest tournament win total since the 1998-99 season.
