Shintaro Ban Leads UNLV to NIT Sweep

February 26, 2018 | by AmateurGolf.com Staff

The victorious UNLV men's golf team<br>(UNLV photo)

The Ben Hogan Award candidate wins his 3rd college tournament, leading the Rebels to a win at Tucson National

TUCSON, AZ (February 26, 2018) - Led by senior Shintaro Ban, UNLV posted three straight subpar rounds to win the National Invitational Tournament at the Omni Tucson National Catalina Course.

How complete was UNLV's victory? All 15 rounds played by the five-man team for the 3-day tournament were under par. In each of the last two rounds, all five Rebels broke 70. Their three round total was 814, an astounding 50 under par.

Red numbers were everywhere at Tucson National. 11 teams and 40 players broke par for the tournament. The runners-up and tournament hosts, Arizona State, were 12 shots behind but still 38 under for 54 holes, sparked by Chun An Yu's 63 in the first round.

Ban opened with a 68 and then added a 65 to pull into a tie with Yu after two rounds. On Monday, he made six birdies against a single bogey for a 67 and an 18-under 200 total, two shots ahead of Yu (69), Ian Snyman of North Texas (67) and Denzel Ieremia of Iowa State (68).

Amazing hybrid and 7iron to 15ft par4 h18 @shinnyboy27 pic.twitter.com/oO6wCsidsW
— UNLV Golf (@UNLVGolf) February 26, 2018

Ban's UNLV teammates Garrick Higgo and Jack Trent were 5th and 6th at 13 under and 12 under respectively. Harry Hall and Justin Kim shot 8-under 208 for the Rebels, tied for 12th.

In the team competition, Arizona finished third at -34 while North Texas and Iowa State rounded out the top five.

The win was UNLV's first on the season, coming after their previous best in their last tournament, the John Burns Intercollegiate in Hawaii earlier this month.

Ban's performance so far this season--he has five top-5 finishes in 7 events--has put his name on the watch lists for the Ben Hogan Award, the Fred Haskins Award, and the Arnold Palmer Cup team.

Results: National Invitational

Place	Player	Location	Pts	Scores
1	Shintaro Ban	San Jose, CA	600	68-65-67=200
T2	Ian Snyman	, South Africa	400	68-67-67=202
T2	Chun An Yu	, Chinese Taipei	400	63-70-69=202
T2	Denzel Ieremia	, New Zealand	400	70-64-68=202
5	Garrick Higgo	, South Africa	300	71-66-66=203