UNLV men’s golf team fails to advance in NCAA tourney

UNLV picked the most inopportune time to play its worst round of golf this season.

The Rebels, who needed to play decently Sunday at the NCAA men’s golf championship to land a spot in the top 15, went the opposite way. The team’s 22-over-par total of 310 at Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla., left it on the outside looking in as UNLV finished in a tie for 26th in the 30-team field with a three-day total of 906.

Georgia was in the lead when the third round was suspended due to lightning in the area. The Bulldogs had a three-shot lead over Southern California with four holes to play.

Mountain West tournament champion San Diego State was in a tie for 12th place after posting a third-round score of 298 and a three-day total of 887.

Play was to resume this morning with the top 15 teams moving on to the fourth and final round of stroke play, which will begin following the conclusion of the third round. The top eight teams that survive today’s final round advance to match play Tuesday. The championship match with the two remaining teams will be contested Wednesday.

“We’re very disappointed,” UNLV coach Dwaine Knight said. “We didn’t get off to a good start and we got impatient and it cost us.”

UNLV began the day in 18th place but just one shot out of 15th. However, the Rebels never got into any kind of positive rhythm Sunday. All five players encountered trouble from the outset and the best anyone could do was senior Carl Jonson’s 4-over-par 76 in what was his final round as a collegian.

Fellow seniors Nicholas Maruri and Kurt Kitayama ended their college careers with a 77 and 78, respectively. Freshmen John Oda and Shintaro Ban both struggled to 7-over 79s.

Knight said the course was playing extremely difficult and that reflected in UNLV’s composite scorecard. As a team, the Rebels managed just 10 birdies for their round among their five players. Conversely, they had four double bogeys and two triple bogeys to go along with an astonishing 25 bogeys.

Any chance of competing was diminished by UNLV’s play on Concession’s par-5s and par-3s. The Rebels played the four par-5 holes to 6-over and the four par-3s to 5-over.

“On this course, good wedge play is so important,” Knight said. “We didn’t hit our wedges well and the two triple bogeys at No. 7 (606-yard par-5) were indicative of that. The course was tough for us.”

And while he loses the bulk of his team, Knight said the 2016 squad has the talent to return to the national championships and make a run. Oda, who was the Mountain West’s Freshman of the Year, returns, as does Ban, AJ McInerney, Taylor Montgomery and Redford Bobbitt.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” he said. “This was a group we thought could make a run (at the national title). We’re losing three great guys. Seeing them play their last hole as Rebels was hard.

“But hopefully our young guys, John and Shintaro, learned from the experience and the other guys will work hard over the summer and into the fall so we can be back next year.”

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj.