NO. 23 UNLV MEN’S GOLF TO PLAY IN TUCSON THIS WEEKEND
National Invitational Tournament will be held Friday-Sunday, March 14-16
The No. 23 UNLV men’s golf team is in Tucson, Ariz., for the National Invitational Tournament, which will be played at Omni Tucson National Golf Club’s Catalina Course (par 72, 7,094 yards) on Friday-Sunday, March 14-16.
The 14-school, 54-hole tournament will consist of 18 holes played each day beginning at 8 a.m. MT. This year’s field is made up of Arizona, California, Marquette, New Mexico, New Mexico State, Oklahoma State, San Diego, San Diego State, SMU, TCU, Texas A&M, UNLV, UTEP and Wyoming.
The Rebels’ lineup includes junior Kurt Kitayama, junior Carl Jonson, sophomore AJ McInerney, freshman Taylor Montgomery and sophomore Zane Thomas. Freshman Chris Tuulik will compete as an individual. UNLV finished ninth (out of 16 teams) at last year’s NIT at 5-over 869. New Mexico won the team title by one shot at 20-under, while individual medalist honors were captured by TCU’s Julien Brun by a stroke at 8-under. Kitayama was the Rebels’ top finisher as he tied for 22nd at even par.
UNLV is coming off its second victory of the season, a team win at the Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters in Las Vegas on March 9. Golfweek named UNLV its National Team of the Week after the win at the prestigious tournament, which annually features one of the toughest fields in college golf. Last weekend’s event included seven of the top-10 ranked teams in the country. In addition, 11 of the 15 teams competing were ranked in the top 20 and all participants were among the nation’s top 50. The field also featured 20 of the top-30 ranked individuals.
The victory was UNLV’s second in three years at the event, fifth in the last seven and seventh in the last 10. Kitayama tied for second individually, while Jonson also finished in the top-10 in a tie for eighth.
Live scoring of the NIT will be available on the internet courtesy of Golfstat through a link at UNLVRebels.com.
Follow UNLV men’s golf on Twitter – @UNLVGolf