RENO, Nev. – The Nevada men's golf team is back in action this weekend and will face an incredibly strong field at the National Invitational Tournament.
 
"We had another good week of practice and qualifying," said head coach Jacob Wilner. "The NIT is one of the strongest fields in college golf and we feel we are ready for that challenge."
 
Nevada returns to an event it once frequented after a short hiatus. The last time the Wolf Pack competed in this event was 2018, making it three consecutive years Nevada had participated. It's an event that has always featured a strong and highly competitive field, but also one that the Wolf Pack has had success at. Nevada recorded a fifth place finish in 2016 and a sixth place showing its last time out in 2018. It's a course the Wolf Pack is more than familiar with too as five of the last six Mountain West Championships have been played at Omni Tucson National in Tucson, Ariz.
 
The field is stacked from top to bottom and features five top 25 programs including No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 4 Illinois, No. 6 Texas, No. 8 Oklahoma State and No. 17 Arizona. Nevada recently had success over top 30 programs though as it finished ahead of three top 30 programs in its last event, the Lamkin San Diego Classic where it finished in second place. The Wolf Pack will also get another early test to see where it stacks up among Mountain West competition as Colorado State, New Mexico, San Diego State, UNLV and Wyoming are all entered in the tournament this weekend.
 
Wilner will send a lineup consisting of seniors Sam Harned, Sam Meek and Brendan MacDougall, junior Trey Davis and freshman Tom Patterson to compete for the Wolf Pack. Harned currently leads the team after its first two events of the season averaging 72.6 strokes per round. Harned and Meek posted the top Wolf Pack finish in the team's last event as they both recorded a top 15 finish in a field with 112 players.
 
Live scoring for the entire tournament will be available on Golfstat.com.
 
National Invitational Tournament
Date: March 20-21
Course: Omni Tucson National – Tucson, Ariz.
Par/Yardage: 72/7,167
Host: Arizona
Field: No. 17 Arizona, Colorado, Colorado State, Houston, No. 4 Illinois, Iowa State, Miami (Ohio), Nevada, New Mexico, No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 8 Oklahoma State, San Diego, San Diego State, No. 6 Texas, UNLV, USC, Utah, Wyoming
Play: 54 holes of stroke play; 36 holes on Saturday, 18 on Sunday
Live scoring: www.golfstat.com
 
LINEUP
1. Sam Harned
2. Sam Meek
3. Tom Patterson
4. Trey Davis
5. Brendan MacDougall
 
2021 Wolf Pack Season Schedule
SPRING SEASON
Feb. 15-17, THE PRESTIGE, T15th out of 24 teams, 287-294-298=879 (+27)
Mar. 8-10, LAMKIN SAN DIEGO CLASSIC, 2^nd out of 20 teams, 286-298-290=871 (+10)
Mar. 20-21, NATIONAL INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT, Omni Tucson National, Tucson, Ariz.
Mar. 25-27, THE GOODWIN, Stanford GC, Palo Alto, Calif.
Apr. 10-12, EL MACERO CLASSIC, El Macero CC, Davis, Calif.
Apr. 23-24, BYU COUGAR CLASSIC, Riverside CC, Provo, Utah
Apr. 30-May 1, MOUNTAIN WEST CHAMPIONSHIP, Omni Tucson National, Tucson, Ariz.