UNLV’s Kitayama wins MW men’s golf title with record score
UNLV senior Kurt Kitayama shot a 1-over-par 72 in the final round of the Mountain West men’s golf championship to win the title by two strokes in helping the Rebels to a second-place finish in the 11-team tournament Sunday in Tucson, Ariz.
Kitayama’s 54-hole score of 11-under 202 set a tournament record, eclipsing the standard of 9-under 204 that New Mexico’s Steve Saunders set in 2009 and Texas Christian’s Johan de Beer matched in 2012.
Kitayama is UNLV’s sixth individual conference champion.
San Diego State, buoyed by Xander Schauffele’s second-place finish, overcame an 11-stroke deficit heading into the final round to win the team title by one stroke over UNLV. The Aztecs finished at 17-under 835, and UNR was third at 842.
UNLV senior Carl Jonson led all competitors with 15 birdies in the tournament and finished tied for fourth at 5-under 208. Rebels freshmen Shintaro Ban and John Oda tied for 13th at par 213, and junior AJ McInerney tied for 40th at 10-over 223.