What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

The VSU golf team hopes this won’t be the case after they compete in the first Las Vegas Desert Classic on Sunday and Monday.

The Revere Golf Club, where the event is held, has a par-72 layout enclosed by mountainous Nevada gorges complete with an overlooking view of the Las Vegas skyline.

“It’s a challenging course,” Kevin Walton, tournament director, said. “Good for a college tournament. Lots of elevation change on the golf course. The conditions are really great, greens are tough, just a good tournament course.”

The annual two-day event hosted by the University of Missouri-St. Louis will feature 13-15 teams from around the nation including fellow Gulf South Conference team, West Florida.

The Blazers will compete against their rivals again for the first time since being defeated a few weeks ago by the Argos in the Matlock Collegiate Classic.

Jared Purvis, VSU golf coach, expects his team to learn a lot during this experience and hopefully leave with a victory.

“Our goal is always to win,” Purvis said. “We just want to make sure we play good consistent golf and eliminate the mistakes because in the end all we can control is what we do. We know we can be very competitive with those teams. We’ve proven it in these last two events. Both tournaments we’ve beaten teams ranked ahead of us so these guys know they can do it.”

After an unsatisfactory seventh place finish in their last event, the Blazers are trying to get out of the bunker in their second event on the Blazers’ 2013 schedule.

VSU plans to board their flight Friday morning early enough to spend the rest of the day catching some sights of Sin City before the practice round of participating teams on Saturday afternoon.

The Blazers look to make a statement teeing off in the major resort city for the first time in school history.

“We’re always happy to play in competition but especially going to Vegas,” Coach Purvis said. “This is the first time we’ve ever played a desert golf course which is something the guys have wanted to do for a while. It’s a new city for us.  None of these guys have ever been there, so it will be a treat for them.”

The Blazers will make their way back to Valdosta on Tuesday to begin preparing for their next event, the First Federal Southeastern Collegiate, which they’ll be hosting on March 11-12 at Kinderlou Forest.