UNLV women’s golfer crosses off bucket list items

It’s been a year of bucket list items for McKenzi Hall.

The UNLV golfer won her first college tournament in September, played in her first LPGA Tour event in April and captured the Nevada State Women’s Amateur title this month to give her three memories to last a lifetime.

“There’s so many women that were Hall of Famers that are on that trophy,” Hall said of the state amateur. “It means everything to be able to have my name on that trophy finally, especially with it being maybe one of my last opportunities.”

Hall went wire-to-wire to win the title, shooting two rounds of even-par at Bear’s Best to open the tournament. She took control in the final round, playing a four-hole stretch in 4 under to pull away from Bishop Gorman junior Samantha Harris and finish at 4-under 212 for a four-shot win.

“The last day I was finally able to kind of get everything working together,” she said. “I putted well, and I was hitting greens.”

She had a similar feeling in September when she won the Dick McGuire Invitational in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in UNLV’s first start of the season.

“Going into the season last year, I definitely didn’t expect to win a tournament,” she said. “Obviously that’s always a goal, but college golf is really hard. But knowing that I won that event showed me I can compete with all the top girls.”

But Hall got a reality check in April when she was given a sponsor exemption into the LPGA Match Play at Shadow Creek. She finished at the back of the pack in the 96-player field featuring the best players in professional golf.

“I honestly can’t really believe that I played in it,” she said. “I didn’t play as well as I wanted, obviously. Everything was kind of stressful. I have never been in that position before.”

She could find herself in the field again in 2025. Tournament organizers are reserving one of their sponsor exemptions for a local player, and a good senior season at UNLV could land Hall in that coveted spot again.

She’s spending the summer getting ready for her senior season. She’s hopeful of winning another tournament and getting the Rebels back to the NCAA regionals, but mostly she wants to play good golf.

“I just want to have a good year,” she said. “Just to have a consistent year of good golf. I think if I can do that, it’ll definitely show me that I can play on tour.”

Desert Inn Classic

Craig Erickson finished at 2-under 140 at Spanish Trail to win the championship flight of the Desert Inn Classic over the weekend. Erickson shot rounds of 69-71 to hold off Alex Forristal by three shots.

In the Senior division, Rick Sepp’s second round was nine strokes better than his first. He shot rounds of 76-67 to finish at 1-over 143 for a six-stroke win over Robert Futrell.

David Foggia won the Silver division at 5-over 147, edging Gary Carpendale, David Curley and Ron Harwood by one shot.

Other winners included Jay Ship (Championship net), Jim Licausi (Senior net) and Brent Bingham (Silver net).

Rebels honored

Four UNLV men’s golfers have been named 2023-24 Cobalt Golf NCAA Division I All-America Scholars, a record for the program. Three players had earned the honor in 2017 and 2020.

Caden Fioroni (sociology) and Ben Sawaia (urban studies) are second-time honorees. Trevor Lewis (computer science) and Wyatt Plattner (urban studies) made their debut on the list.

Greg Robertson covers golf for the Review-Journal. He can be reached at grobertson@reviewjournal.com.