Kinsinger honored as national golfer of the week

After winning the individual title at the Southern Highlands Collegiate Championship, UNLV sophomore and Galena High graduate Matt Kinsinger has been awarded with Golfweek's Men's National Player of the Week award.

Kinsinger, who was playing as an individual and in his first event of the year, finished with back-to-back 69s to win the event at 2-under-par 214 at Southern Highlands Golf Club on Sunday. He won by three shots over teammate and freshman Seung-Su Han and top-ranked Pablo Martin of Oklahoma State.

Kinsinger's previous best finish was a tie for 25th at last year's Southern Highlands event. This year's tournament marked just his fifth career collegiate event.

As a team, UNLV was recognized as Golfweek's Men's National Team of the Week. The host Rebels defeated the top five teams in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings to win the 15-team Southern Highlands Collegiate, and didn't get to count the score of medalist Kinsinger. UNLV closed out the tournament with the final round's best score of 2-over 290 and finished 10 shots ahead of No. 1 Georgia.

The win was UNLV's second of the season as a team and the second straight year it has won the Southern Highlands Collegiate Championship.

Also, UNLV has moved up considerably in a couple of different rankings. The Rebels were ranked out of the top 10 by Golfweek and Golfstat, but now are ranked sixth and fifth in those polls, respectively.

UNLV's next action will be March 26-28 at the National Invitational Tournament in Tucson, Ariz.