Photograph courtesy of Nevada Athletics

Senior Nicholas Smits chips from the fringe. Smits finished tied for 29th on Sunday at the Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational.

By Ryan Suppe

The Wolf Pack returned to Reno at midnight on Sunday after playing 54 holes of golf in two days. Over the weekend Nevada competed in the Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational in Colorado Springs, Colorado. They placed seventh, tied with Missouri Kansas City, with a score of 873.

As a team, Nevada tallied nine strokes over par in three rounds. They shot a 292 in the first and second rounds and a 289 in the final round. UNLV had the top two scorers in the tournament, shot 26-under-par as a team and took first place, edging Colorado by four strokes.

The Wolf Pack showed its depth and abundance of young talent at the tournament hosted by Air Force. Freshman Grant Booth led the team shooting two-under-par, which was good enough to tie for 14th place in his first-ever collegiate tournament.

Booth, a native of Sydney, Australia, finished in the top 16 at the Men’s Australian Amateur earlier this year, and represented his country at the Calloway World Junior Championship in 2013.

Booth was followed by Nicholas Smits (tied 29th), Jooho Lee (tied 38th), Corey Eddings (tied 38th) and Kit Carson (tied 50th).

The team features four freshmen, three of which competed in the season-opening tournament.

“Having three freshmen in the line-up, you’re not quite sure what’s going to happen, but I thought they performed well,” said fifth-year head coach Jacob Wilner.

Wilner was impressed with the way the freshmen handled themselves, battling nerves and acclimating to the college lifestyle, but he still expects a better performance in coming tournaments.

Adjusting to college can be hard for anyone, but it can be far more difficult for international students. Four of the nine players on the team are from outside of the United States. Australia, Canada and Brazil are represented on the team.

Unlike many collegiate sports, golf is popular all around the globe, and Wilner benefits from that while building his team. With players coming to play in America in junior tournaments, Wilner was able to watch them compete and convince them to sign with Nevada.

In addition to the freshmen talent, the Wolf Pack returns quality veterans like Smits. Wilner says Smits is a guy who doesn’t talk a lot but leads by example, meaning he works hard and plays really good golf. Smits, a senior, had a successful summer. He won the Nevada State Amateur Tournament in Las Vegas and qualified for the U.S. Amateur Championship.

Moving forward in the season, Wilner doesn’t want his guys focused on rankings or championships. He has internal goals set for the team which include growing together and individually.

Coach Wilner proved he practices what he preaches after winning the Nevada State Match Play Title this summer. He topped four golfers in match play within a 32-player pool featuring some of the best golfers in the state.

The Pack goes back to Colorado next week for the Ram Masters Invitational in Fort Collins. Wilner won’t change the line-up for the Colorado State tournament.

Ryan Suppe can be reached at rsuppe@sagebrush.unr.edu.