Las Vegas, Nevada (March 5, 2015)–Many of the nation’s top collegiate golf programs and golfers will showcase their talent next week at the Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters. The event takes place Monday-Wednesday, March 9-11, at the prestigious Southern Highlands Golf Club in Las Vegas. The Rebels have won the home tournament seven times in the previous 10 years and the players and coaches look forward to another victory against a stacked field. The public is encouraged to attend the tournament and admission is free. — By Brian Hurlburt.
“We will have our hands full in hosting the Collegiate Masters next week,” UNLV head coach Dwaine Knight said. “The best teams in the nation will be here and the course will be in immaculate shape. It will be incredible and will be a real test. Last year we were able to pull it out and get a victory. We are going to really have to play at a high level – higher than we have played so far this year – to compete because the field is so stacked. If we have patience and don’t get too uncomfortable and start pressing, then we should be in the mix and have a chance to win again.”
This prestigious event annually lures the country’s best college golf teams and each year ranks at or near the top of the collegiate golf schedule in terms of strength of field. Southern Highlands Golf Club was designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr. and Sr. and is the home course of the Rebels. The Club is owned and operated by Pacific Links.
The 2015 edition of the Collegiate Masters will have 10 of the top-25 teams in the country as part of the 15-team field (Bushnell Golfweek Coaches Poll), while all 15 teams competing are ranked in the nation’s top 50 (Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings). Additionally, 19 of the top-50 ranked individuals in the country are scheduled to play (Golfweek/Sagarin).
Participating teams include No. 16 Alabama, No. 13 Arizona State, California (receiving votes), Georgia, No. 1 Illinois, No. 24 Oklahoma, No. 22 Oklahoma State, SMU, TCU, No. 7 Texas, Texas A&M, No. 19 Texas Tech, No. 11 UCLA, No. 25 UNLV and No. 10 USC.
The 54-hole tournament will be played over three days, with tee times beginning at 8 a.m. each morning off the No. 1 and No. 10 holes. UNLV is the defending team champion as it won last year’s Collegiate Masters by two shots over Stanford at 22-over 886. Stanford’s Patrick Rodgers is the two-time defending individual champion, winning the 2013 event in a playoff and last year by two strokes at 1-over 217. Live scoring of the Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters will be available on the internet courtesy of Golfstat through a link at UNLVRebels.com.
In six tournaments this season, the Rebels have recorded four top-three finishes and one team title. UNLV has had two individual medalists this season and has had individual runner-up finishes twice.