MOUNTAIN WEST MEN’S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP BEGINS FRIDAY
Conference tournament will be held in Tucson, Ariz., for ninth straight time
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The No. 24 UNLV men’s golf team will compete at the 2015 Mountain West Men’s Golf Championship beginning on Friday, May 1, at the Catalina Course at Omni Tucson National Resort (par 71, 7,144 yards) in Tucson, Ariz.
The 2015 championship will mark the ninth 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).
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, while New Mexico is the two-time 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 Penner in 2013.
As a team, UNLV has finished third place or better at the event in each of the past six years. The Rebels placed third last year at 1-under par, five shots back of the team champion.
Competing for the Rebels at this year’s MW Championship will be senior Kurt Kitayama, freshman John Oda, senior Carl Jonson, freshman Shintaro Ban and junior AJ McInerney.
This will mark Kitayama’s and Jonson’s fourth MW Championship, while it will be the third for McInerney and the first for Oda and Ban. Kitayama’s best finish at the event was a tie for eighth in 2013, while Jonson finished third last year. McInerney’s best finish at the MW Championship was a tie for 18th last year.
Live stats for the MW Championship will be available courtesy of Golfstat through a link on UNLVRebels.com. 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 third year. It is a head-to-head athletic and academic challenge between the longtime rivals. UNLV won the first two years of the Governor’s Series.
UNLV currently leads this year’s competition 21-18. To track the scoring, visit the Governor’s Series page at UNLVRebels.com.
UNLV has recorded seven top-five finishes in its 10 events this season, including each of its last three. In addition, the Rebels have recorded two team victories (Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational in September and and the Jackrabbit Invitational in March).
Oda leads the team with seven top-10 individual finishes this season, including a victory at the Sea Best Invitational. He also has two runner-up showings. Kitayama has turned in three top-10 individual finishes this season, including a win at the Jackrabbit Invitational, while Jonson has finished in the top 10 twice. McInerney tied for second at the Falcon Invite.