Sept. 16, 2011
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV men's golf team will open its 2011-12 season on Sunday, Sept. 18, as it will compete at the 43rd 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. 19.
The 54-hole stroke-play event will consist of 36 holes (two rounds) on Sunday, starting at 8:15 a.m. MT in a shotgun format, and 18 on Monday, starting at 7:30 a.m. MT, with tee times off of holes Nos. 1 and 10.
Scheduled to compete for UNLV will be senior Derek Ernst, junior Kevin Penner, sophomore Blake Biddle, freshman Carl Jonson and sophomore Nicholas Maruri
The 19-team field for the Falcon Invitational includes Air Force, Air Force JV, Ball State, Coastal Carolina, Colorado, Colorado State, Denver, North Carolina State, Northern Colorado, Northern Iowa, San Diego, Southern Utah, UCCS, UNLV, Utah, Utah State, UTEP, Weber State and Wyoming.
UCCS is the defending team champion at the Falcon Invitational, winning the 2010 event with a score of 3-under 861, eight strokes ahead of San Diego. Colorado State's Ryan Peterson won medalist honors at last year's event, carding a 9-under 207. UNLV finished fifth at 13-over with Ernst leading all Rebel individuals with a tie for 12th at 1-over 217.
Ernst is a two-time Mountain West Golfer of the Year award winner and has also been named to the PING All-West Region team each of the last two years. In 2010, he was selected as a third team All-American. He also won last year's individual MW championship, and was recently named to Golf World's list of the top 50 players in the country to watch this season. Biddle was named last year's MW Freshman of the Year, while Penner, along with Ernst, were selected to the all-conference team.
There will be no live scoring for the Falcon Invitational, but daily results will be posted at UNLVRebels.com.
UNLV is entering its 25th season under head coach Dwaine Knight and this year's squad returns six letterwinners from last season. UNLV has played in a NCAA-record 23-straight NCAA Regionals.
