Feb. 24, 2011

LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV men's golf team will be back in action this Saturday-Sunday, Feb. 26-27, at the Third Annual Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate. The tournament, which is hosted by the University of Wyoming, will be played at the Classic Club (par 72, 7,322 yards) in Palm Desert, Calif.

Playing this weekend for the Rebels will be junior Derek Ernst, sophomore Kevin Penner, freshman Blake Biddle, senior Jeremiah Wooding and junior Colby Smith.

The 54-hole tournament will consist of 36 holes played on Saturday and 18 on Sunday. Both days will begin with a 7:45 a.m. shotgun start. The field will be comprised of 20 teams: Air Force, Boise State, Cal Poly, Colorado State, Denver, Drake, Hawaii, Kansas, Long Beach State, Nebraska, New Mexico, Santa Clara, Southern Utah, SMU, Texas A&M, UC Santa Barbara, UNLV, UTEP, Weber State and Wyoming.

The Classic Club was named a 2010 "Best Courses You Can Play" by Golfweek and earned 2009 and 2010 "Best Resort Courses of Distinction" by Golfweek. It was also the host site of the PGA Tour's Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

This year will be UNLV's first playing in the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate. Last year's event was held in the fall and was won by Santa Clara with an 8-over-par 872. Wyoming's Gabe Maier was the individual medalist at 8-under 208.

In the Rebels' last outing, they finished tied for fifth at the Arizona Invitational in Tucson, Ariz., Jan. 31-Feb. 1.

There will be no live scoring on the internet available for the Wyoming Desert Classic, but daily results will be posted on UNLVRebels.com.