May 3, 2011
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV men's golf team will compete at the 2011 Mountain West Conference Men's Golf Championship beginning on Thursday, May 5, at the Catalina Course at OMNI Tucson National Resort (par 71, 7,144 yards) in Tucson, Ariz.
The 2011 championship will mark the fifth straight year that the tournament will be held in Tucson, Ariz. The first MWC Championship was played in Palm Desert, Calif., in 2000, while the 2001-2006 events were held in Sunriver, Ore.
UNLV won the inaugural MWC Championship in 2000 and again in 2002, and will be looking for its third MWC title this week. BYU won in 2001, New Mexico won the title four straight years from 2003-06, BYU won again in 2007, Colorado State won in 2008, TCU won in 2009, and Colorado State again last year in 2010.
Individually, UNLV has had three MWC champions with Michael Kirk claiming medalist honors in 2000, Ryan Moore in 2004 and Eddie Olson in 2008.
UNLV has finished in third place at the event in each of the past two years. Competing for the Rebels at this year's MWC Championship will be junior Derek Ernst, sophomore Kevin Penner, freshman Blake Biddle, sophomore Arthur Kim and freshman Nicholas Maruri.
Returning to the MWC Championship from last year for the Rebels are Ernst and Penner. Ernst finished in a tie for fifth place at last year's event, while Penner tied for 16th. This year will mark Ernst's third appearance at the conference championship, as he tied for 13th as a freshman.
As a team this season, UNLV has recorded seven top-five finishes in its 11 tournaments. Its best showings this year have been three second-place finishes: at the Herb Wimberly Intercollegiate in New Mexico in October, at the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate in California in February, and at the PING Cougar Classic in Utah in April.
Individually, Penner has turned in UNLV's best finish this year as he tied for first and earned a victory at at the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate.
The nine MWC teams will participate in the 54-hole tournament, which will begin each day at 7 a.m. PDT with 18 holes each day from Thursday through Saturday, May 7.
UNLV holds the MWC Championship record for the largest margin of victory, which was 23 shots in 2000.
Live stats for the MWC Championship will be available courtesy of Golfstat through a link on UNLVRebels.com. For more information on the MWC Championships, visit TheMWC.com or http://www.themwc.com/champ/11-mgolf-champ.html
