April 7, 2011

LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV men's golf team will travel to Tempe, Ariz., for the 39th annual ASU Thunderbird Invitational, which will be played at ASU's Karsten Golf Course (par 71, 7,057 yards) on Saturday and Sunday, April 9 and 10.

The 13-school tournament will consist of 36 holes played on Saturday and a final round of 18 holes taking place on Sunday. This year's field is made up of Arizona State, Cal State Northridge, California, Colorado State, Florida State, Northwestern, Pepperdine, San Diego State, San Jose State, UC Irvine, UNLV, USC and Washington State.

Playing for the Rebels this week will be junior Derek Ernst, sophomore Kevin Penner, freshman Blake Biddle, junior Colby Smith and sophomore Arthur Kim. Ernst finished tied for 51st at last year's Thunderbird Invitational at 2-over, while Smith was tied for 56th at 7-over. UNLV tied for eighth at last year's event with a 54-hole total of 4-over 856. Washington won the team title at 13-under. San Diego State's J.J. Spaun won medalist honors last year at 8-under.

In its last tournament, UNLV finished sixth out of 15 teams at the National Invitational Tournament, which was played in Tucson, Ariz., March 21-22. UNLV has finished in the top five in five of its nine tournaments this season.

Live scoring of the Thunderbird Invitational will be available on the internet courtesy of Golfstat through a link at UNLVRebels.com.