UNLV men’s golf set to host college’s best at Southern Highlands

Dwaine Knight accepted the challenge of turning a struggling UNLV men’s golf program into a contender when he left New Mexico in 1987.

The coaching gig came with a new tournament to host.

“When I was in New Mexico I had the William H. Tucker tournament,” Knight said. “So I told myself, ‘Let’s see what we can do with this one.’”

Fast forward 30 years and numerous tournament name changes, the Southern Highlands Collegiate has turned into arguably the most prestigious annual amateur golf event.

The home tournament of the Rebels runs from Monday-Wednesday at Southern Highlands Golf Club. Tee times start at 8 a.m. off the No. 1 and No. 10 holes, and it’s free to the public.

“It started out as a regional event,” Knight said. “Now it’s right up there with the NCAA championships as the most powerful event in the nation. The best of the best want to play here. They know the big names that have won here, and they want to be a part of it.”

This year’s field of 15 features six programs ranked in the top 10 in the nation. Participating teams includes No. 25 Arizona State, No. 2 Florida, No. 4 Illinois, No. 11 Oklahoma, No. 3 Oklahoma State, No. 23 San Diego State, No. 10 Stanford, No. 9 Texas Tech, No. 17 UNLV and No. 7 USC.

UNLV, which is coming off a second-place finish at the National Invitational Tournament in Arizona, is led by the standout trio of John Oda, Shintaro Ban and Harry Hall.

The Rebels have won the team title at the Southern Highlands Collegiate in seven of the last 12 years. USC was last year’s tournament winner.

Past Southern Highlands Collegiate individual champions and competitors includes PGA stars Phil Mickelson, David Duval, Morgan Hoffman, Camilo Villegas, Rickie Fowler, Charley Hoffman, Jordan Spieth, Ryan Moore and Adam Scott.

Florida’s Sam Horsfield won the event last year and will be back to defend his title this week.

WOMEN’S GOLF — The Rebels added a last-minute tournament to their schedule this week.

UNLV will host the Battle at Boulder Creek on Monday and Tuesday at Boulder Creek Golf Club. The Rebels will go up against Idaho State, Oklahoma City, Georgetown, Eastern Washington, University of North Dakota and University of South Dakota.

The starting lineup for UNLV will be junior Mackenzie Raim, senior Alexandra Kaui, sophomore Elizabeth Prior, sophomore Alyssa Getty and junior Harley Dubsky. Tee time is set for 7:15 a.m.

BASEBALL — UNLV ace Alan Strong was named Mountain West Pitcher of the Week for the week of Feb. 20-26.

Strong pitched 5.1 scoreless innings and struck out six batters against then-No. 7 Cal State Fullerton in UNLV’s 6-1 upset victory over the Titans on Feb. 24.

The first-year Rebel has had a standout first month of the season. Strong, who transferred from Grossmont College, sports a 2-0 record with an ERA of 2.35 in 15.1 innings of work.

SOFTBALL — UNLV went 3-2 during the Red Desert Classic in St. George, Utah.

The Rebels started out the weekend with three straight wins against Southern Utah (2-1), Iowa State (3-1) and Utah Valley (7-2). UNLV dropped the last two games against Montana (6-2) and Binghamton (7-2).

UNLV will return home for the next six games, starting with a Tuesday matchup against Creighton at 4 p.m. at Eller Media Stadium before hosting the final tournament of its non-conference slate, the Rebel Classic, March 10-12.

Contact Gilbert Manzano at gmanzano@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0492. Follow @gmanzano24 on Twitter.