LIHUE, Hawai’i (UNLVRebels.com) – The UNLV men’s golf team and sophomore Zach Little grabbed team and individual co-champion honors after Saturday’s surge at Hawai’i’s John A. Burns Intercollegiate at the Ocean Course at Hokuala (Par 70, 7,098 yards).
The Rebels, who came off a second-round 8-under, rode their wave of momentum to a final-round 14-under as they moved up two spots to tie for first place with No. 16 Utah at 22-under 818. This marked the program’s fifth victory at the event (1991;1998;1999;2010;2025) while giving the Scarlet & Gray two wins in a season for the first time since 2017-18.
On the individual side, Little followed up his course-record 63 a day earlier with a solid 5-under 65 to share individual medalist honors with the Utes’ Gabriel Palacios at 11-under 199 for the tournament. The Croxley Green, England native’s victory is the first of his collegiate career and his third top-10 effort of the 2024-25 campaign.
REBEL SCORECARD: Each of UNLV’s four contributors to the team’s final-round scoring recorded below-par scores to finish in the top 20. Behind Little, senior Caden Fioroni (-1) carded a 4-under 66 to tie for 20th, senior Trevor Lewis (-5) shot a 3-under 67 to tie for sixth alongside teammate Wyatt Plattner (-5), who posted his second straight 2-under 68.
STACKED FIELD: As part of their win, the Rebels finished ahead of three of the tournament’s four nationally top-25 ranked squads, including No. 10 Illinois and No. 20 San Diego State in a tie for fifth and No. 21 BYU in eighth.
QUOTABLE: “It’s always a treat to compete in Hawaii. But to come away with a win in a historic event like this is truly an honor. I want to commend every one of our players for playing with grit and finishing like Rebels today. They have all put in the work, and hard work pays off which showed today. I’m very happy for this group, our program as a whole and for Zach Little on earning a really nice collegiate victory against a strong field.”
-UNLV Men’s Golf Head Coach Jean-Paul Hebert
UP NEXT: The Rebels will now return home to prepare to host the Southern Highlands Collegiate from March 2-4 at Southern Highlands Golf Club.
OTHER NOTES:
- With the first-place finish, UNLV has now notched three top-5 team performances and five top-10 outings during the 2024-25 campaign.
- The squad’s other victory this season came in the fall at SMU’s Trinity Forest Invitational.
- This ties the Rebels with Cal for the second most victories by any school at the John A. Burns Intercollegiate, which began in 1977.
- Little becomes the fourth UNLV golfer to claim medalist honors at the event, joining Michael Kirk (1999), Jeremy Anderson (2000) and Ryan Moore (2005). The Scarlet & Gray now sits tied with BYU for the fourth most individual wins in the history of the tournament.
