UNLV men’s golf returning to NCAA championships

For the third straight year, the UNLV men’s golf team has qualified for the NCAA championships.

The Rebels finished the three rounds at the NCAA regional at TPC of Myrtle Beach in Murrels Inlet, South Carolina, at 8-under 856 to secure the fifth and final qualifying spot. Illinois finished 25 under to win by five shots over Ohio State. Also qualifying were Wake Forest and California.

Justin Kim finished at 7-under 209 and in eighth place individually to lead the Rebels. Senior Harry Hall finished 2-under 214 and in 14th. They advance to the NCAA championships from May 24-29 at Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

“This has been a difficult year for us so I am very happy for these guys to earn their way into the finals,” UNLV coach Dwaine Knight said. “At the beginning of the season, I thought we had a terrific team, but then Garrick Higgo, one of our best players, turned professional. That was tough to overcome, but the other guys stepped up and then persevered through a challenging spring season when our results could have been better.

“This week, we rode Justin Kim’s back and he really stepped up. When we look back in the record books, there will be an asterisk about how Justin got us to Arkansas.”

Kim put together back-to-back scores of 4-under 68 in the final two rounds.

“It’s great to hear people saying we made it because of me, but it was a total team effort,” Kim said. “Everyone had clutch moments and a lot of small things added up and carried us. We all worked hard for this and we will continue to practice and work hard leading up to the finals.”

Freelance writer Brian Hurlburt can be reached at bhurlburt5@gmail.com. Follow @LVGolfInsider on Twitter.