Brian Hilderbrand: Rebels likely consensus No. 1 after dominant win

Tuesday, Feb. 18, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

UNLV head golf coach Dwaine Knight didn't have long to savor his team's overwhelming victory in the Taylor Made/Big Island Intercollegiate in Hawaii.

Just two days after his team posted a 16-stroke win in the 54-hole tournament, Knight spent the majority of Monday in a Hawaii emergency room with a kidney stone.

"It's a lot harder than any bogeys you'll ever have," Knight cracked about his medical condition as he rested in his Honolulu hotel room Monday evening.

Knight didn't have the opportunity to worry about many bogeys last weekend as his team was rolling to an 11-under-par 853 total on the Waikoloa Kings' Course in Kona. The top-ranked Rebels beat USC by 16 shots and defending NCAA champion Arizona State by 18 strokes en route to one of the most dominant wins in program history.

"It was really an exceptional effort," Knight said of his team's second win of the 1996-97 season and first of the spring. "I guess the thing that really pleased me the most was our depth."

With number-one man Mike Ruiz struggling to a 10-over-par 226 and a 62nd-place tie, No. 4 Bill Lunde won the tournament with a 6-under 210 and No. 5 Mike Vance tied for third at 4-under 212.

It was Lunde's first collegiate win and third top-10 finish of the season.

"I'm very proud of him," Knight said. "He had a big fall for us and he had a stretch there where he played really solid. His 65 (in the opening round Friday) really sparked our team and was the impetus for us to go on and win the tournament."

Senior Gilberto Morales was 1 under for the tournament and tied for eighth place and sophomore Ted Oh was 1 over and tied for 13th.

"It's really pretty amazing with Ruiz not really having a strong tournament," Knight said of the win. "I think it showed a lot of strength in our team.

"We talked about coming over here and having three guys with the potential to win (the tournament) and we came up with a fourth -- and, actually, Vance had a shot, too."

Knight said he was pleased with the way the Rebels played -- and won -- as the top-ranked team in the Rolex Collegiate Rankings, a position they have held since winning the Ping Preview Invitational last fall.

"One of the things we're trying to do is live with the high expectations of this team and we seem to be handling them very well," Knight said. "This is an awfully good start. Being ranked so high, everybody is shooting at you and you have to play really well.

"This was an incredible win for us ... and it's going to help us out down the line."

UNLV, which figures to be the consensus No. 1-ranked team in all four polls based on the win, will use a "junior varsity" team -- consisting of five players who did not compete last weekend -- in the John A. Burns Invitational which runs Wednesday through Friday in Honolulu.

Chip shots ...

* SPIKELESS UPDATE: During his recent appearance at Lake Las Vegas, Jack Nicklaus credited his switch from metal spikes to soft cleats for helping him overcome back and hip problems that forced him to withdraw from last year's Wendy's Three-Tour Challenge at Lake Las Vegas' SouthShore Golf Club. "I hate to give a commercial without being involved in the company but I changed to Softspikes about four weeks ago and I think that has helped my hip more than anything I've done in a long, long time," Nicklaus said. According to a spokesman for Softspikes, Inc., the leading manufacturer of plastic cleats, more than 1,000 golf courses worldwide have banned the use of metal cleats.

* UPCOMING EVENTS: The PGA Tour is in Arizona this week for the $1.3 million Tucson Chrysler Classic. Phil Mickelson is the defending champion. ESPN will televise. ... The Senior PGA Tour remains in Florida for the $1.2 million American Express Invitational at the TPC at Prestancia in Sarasota. Hale Irwin won last year's event. ESPN will televise. ... The LPGA Tour heads to Hawaii for the Cup Noodles Hawaiian Ladies Open at Kapolei Golf Club. Meg Mallon is the defending champion. ... The Nike Tour resumes this week after a two-week hiatus with the Nike Inland Empire Open at Moreno Valley Ranch Golf Club in Moreno Valley, Calif. Jim Estes won last year's tournament.