DALLAS (UNLVRebels.com) – In its third tournament of the fall, the UNLV men’s golf team won the Trinity Forest Invitational after wrapping up play Tuesday with a tournament record and season-best 34-under 830 at the three-day event hosted by SMU at Trinity Forest Golf Club (par 72, 7,617 yards).
The Rebels secured the victory with a final-round 8-under 280 to hold off runner-up Loyola Marymount (-32) by two shots after the latter’s final-round 13-under push. Helping seal the deal, senior Caden Fioroni led the third-round charge with a 5-under 67, junior Wyatt Plattner shot a 3-under 69, junior Trevor Lewis added a 1-under 71 and sophomore Zach Little scored a 1-over 73 to close the third-round scorecard.
UNLV’s leading duo of Little, who made his Rebel debut, and Fioroni tied for fourth at 11-under 205 for the tournament as four Rebels finished in the top 25. Right behind them with sub-par scores were Lewis in a tie for 16th at 7-under 209 and Plattner at 5-under 211. Also competing, sophomore Dillon Dean (+1) tied for 40th playing as an individual and junior Brett Sawaia (+9) rounded out the lineup in a tie for 73rd.
Fioroni and Little finished just three shots behind individual champion Zachary Kingsland from the host Mustangs’ squad. They also came within just one shot of runners-up Jack Buckanan (-12) from USC and Alex Huang (-12).
Among the 15-team field, the Rebels bested two teams receiving votes in the GCAA’s Bushnell/Golfweek Top-25 Coaches Poll. Those include SMU and USC, which placed third and fourth, respectively.
QUOTABLE: “This was a very rewarding victory for the team, as well as a true team effort. We have a hard-working group that loves to compete, and they are dedicated to the improvement process. Finishing off tournaments is never easy. Today they finished like Rebels. SMU and Trinity Forest hosted a class event and we are honored to come away with the win. It was nice to see four guys finish inside the top 25, and extra nice to see two in the top 5.”
-UNLV Head Coach Jean-Paul Hebert
UP NEXT: The Rebels return to competition in less than two weeks when they travel to Mississippi for the Fallen Oak Collegiate being hosted by Ole Miss from October 19-21.
NOTES:
- UNLV’s lineup also finished with a season-low score for a single round at 15-under 273 in the second round and a season-high 68 birdies for the tournament. Fioroni, Lewis, Plattner and Little each contributed 15 birdies and Sawaia added eight. As an individual, Dean dropped in 10 birdies.
- Additionally, Little tied the individual tournament record for lowest round with an 8-under 64 in Monday’s second round.
- This marked the Rebels’ first team victory under head coach Jean-Paul Hebert in his third year at the helm of the UNLV men’s golf program.
- The win gave both the UNLV men’s and women’s golf teams a win within the same week for the first since 2017 (Mountain West Championships). On Sunday, the UNLV women’s golf team closed out a victory at Denver’s Ron Moore Intercollegiate.
- It was also the first team win by the Scarlet & Gray since the 2021 MW Championship.
