Nov. 9, 2011
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV men's golf program received signed national letters of intent from AJ McInerney, Adam Svensson, Zane Thomas and James Fuetz on the first day of the early signing period, head coach Dwaine Knight announced Wednesday. They will all enroll at UNLV next fall as freshmen.
McInerney attends Coronado High School in Henderson, Nev. He is a 2011 AJGA First Team All-American and the 2011 PING Invitational Champion. He also won the Nevada state championship and is ranked as the No. 7 player in the country in the 2012 class by Golfweek.
"We are very proud to have been able to land AJ," Knight said. "He had many scholarship offers, and the fact that he is homegrown and he decided to stay here and play his collegiate golf at UNLV is a real boost to our program. It will be exciting for the city to have some more hometown guys playing for us. AJ is absolutely committed to trying to win a national championship and he feels that his best shot doing so is here."
Svensson was the 2010 Junior World Champion and is a two-time British Columbia Junior Champion. He is the top-ranked junior golfer in all of Canada and is also a member of the Canadian junior national team. He attends Earl Marriott High School in Surrey, B.C. He was also the 2010 Canadian Juvenile Boys Champion.
"Adam is a very refined player and he plays the game at a really high level already," Knight said. "He has some Canadian professional tournament wins under his belt playing as an amateur. I feel like both AJ and Adam are in the same category entering college as some of the great players that have come through our program. They have a lot of experience competitively already and we feel that adding this class of players will really boost our depth. We are looking forward to a lot of competition at home and hopefully that will turn into exciting results on the road."
Thomas is also a local product who attends Arbor View High School. He was the 2010 AJGA Las Vegas Junior Champion.
"Zane has come up through the junior ranks here in Las Vegas and has shown promise on the junior circuit the last two years," Knight said. "He turned down a full appointment to the U.S. Air Force Academy to play here at UNLV. Zane has a lot of upside. I have seen him compete at a high level at junior tournaments all over the country. We are excited that he also decided to stay here at home."
Fuetz attends Bellarmine High School in University Place, Wash. He was the 2010 Washington State 4A Boys Champion and is an AJGA Champion.
"James is an extremely strong player, physically," Knight said. "He won the Washington state championship - we have had a lot of good players from Washington that include Ryan Moore, Andres Gonzales and currently Carl Jonson. We have had a lot of success with players from that rea. James comes from a good playing background. He suffered a hand injury and was limited for a while, but he is almost 100 percent now and by the time he gets here he will be at full strength. He has shown a lot of promise."
