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April 22, 2014
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV men's golf team will compete at the 2014 Mountain West Men's Golf Championship beginning on Friday, April 25, at the Catalina Course at Omni Tucson National Resort (par 71, 7,144 yards) in Tucson, Ariz.
The 2014 championship will mark the eighth consecutive year the tournament will be held at Tucson National. The first MW Championship was played in Palm Desert, Calif., in 2000, while the 2001-2006 events were held in Sunriver, Ore.
All 11 Mountain West teams (Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Nevada, Reno, New Mexico, San Diego State, San José State, UNLV, Utah State and Wyoming) will participate in the three-day, 54-hole tournament. 18 holes will be played each day (Friday-Sunday), with tee times beginning at 7 a.m. PT (10-minute intervals between groups). An 18-hole practice round will be conducted on Thursday, April 24.
New Mexico and UNLV will be grouped together for the first round with tee times slated for 7:00-7:40 a.m.
UNLV won the inaugural MW Championship in 2000 and again in 2002, and will be looking for its third MW 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, Colorado State again in 2010, San Diego State in 2011 and 2012, and New Mexico is the defending team champion.
Individually, UNLV has had five MW champions with Michael Kirk claiming medalist honors in 2000, Ryan Moore in 2004, Eddie Olson in 2008, Derek Ernst in 2011 in a playoff and Kevin Pennerlast year (2013). As a team, UNLV has finished third place or better at the event in each of the past five years. The Rebels tied for second last year.
Competing for UNLV at this year's MW Championship will be junior Kurt Kitayama, junior Carl Jonson, sophomore AJ McInerney, sophomore Zane Thomas and junior Nicholas Maruri.
This will mark Kitayama's and Jonson's third MW Championship, while it will be the second for McInerney and the first for Thomas. Maruri played in the 2011 and 2013 MW Championships. Kitayama's best finish at the event was a tie for eighth last year, while Jonson tied for 10th last year. McInerney tied for 24th last year, and Maruri had his best finish at the 2011 event with a tie for 26th.
Live stats for the MW Championship will be available courtesy of Golfstat through a link on UNLVRebels.com and by clicking here. For more information on the MW Championship, visit TheMW.com or its tournament central page.
The MW Championship will also be an opportunity for the Rebels to earn three more points in the Governor's Series, presented by NV Energy. The competition between UNLV and Nevada, Reno is in its second year. It is a head-to-head athletic and academic challenge between the longtime rivals. UNLV won last year's inaugural series 37.5-10.5.
UNLV currently leads this year's competition 18.0-9.0. To track the scoring, visit the Governor's Series page at UNLVRebels.com.
UNLV has finished in the top four in six of its 10 events this season, including four of the its last five. In addition, the Rebels have recorded three team victories (Carmel Cup in September, Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters in March and the Jackrabbit Invitational, also in March).
Kitayama has turned in five top-10 individual finishes this season, including a victory at the Jackrabbit Invitational, while Jonson has finished in the top 10 three times. McInerney has four top-10s, Thomas has three and Maruri will be competing for the first time this season (injury).
