UNLV leads after opening round of its only ‘home’ tourney

Despite being unable to break par as a team, UNLV did enough good things during a windy opening round at Southern Highlands Golf Club Friday to lead the Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters by four shots.

The Rebels, who were paced by junior Carl Jonson’s 2-under-par 70 and freshman Taylor Montgomery’s 1-under 71, posted a team score of 1-over-par 289 in what is the only home tournament on their schedule. Oklahoma State is in second place going into today’s second round after the Cowboys were 5-over at 293. Oklahoma is seven shots behind UNLV in third place after an opening-round team total of 296.

Alabama, the nation’s top-ranked team heading into the 54-hole tournament, is tied for fifth place along with UCLA at 11-over 299. Defending champion California is in 12th place in the 15-team field after posting a team score of 314.

Jonson, who shared the individual lead with Oklahoma State’s Wyndham Clark after 18 holes, played a very steady back nine after making the turn at 2-under. Montgomery made birdies at the par-4 16th and the par-4 18th to get to 1-under. Junior Kurt Kitayama and sophomore Zane Thomas both carded opening-round 2-over 74s, with Kitayama overcoming a double-bogey at the par-3 8th and Thomas four bogeys on his final nine to help UNLV stay in front.

Freshman Redford Bobbitt had a tough opening round, shooting a 13-over 85. His score did not count against the team total.

Second-round play begins at 8 a.m. today. Admission is free. Fans can follow the live scoring on Golfstat.com.