Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: NCAA tourney stumble ruins UNLV’s season

Tuesday, June 3, 1997 | 11:32 a.m.

Shortly after the UNLV golf team won the NCAA West Regional last month, junior Bill Lunde made the bold statement that if the Rebels didn't win the national championship, all of their other accomplishments this season would be for naught.

The Rebels, ranked No. 1 in the nation since October and the top seed at last week's NCAA Golf Championships, seemingly were setting themselves up for a big fall if they didn't win the team title as expected.

After the unthinkable happened and UNLV missed the cut and finished 22nd in the 30-team field in Lake Forest, Ill., head coach Dwaine Knight said that is exactly the attitude that championship-caliber teams must have and didn't fault his players for putting too much emphasis on one tournament.

"I think the national championship is what it's all about -- that's what our whole program has been built on," Knight said. "We've had a lot of success back here in the past few years and challenged for it a couple of times and this year it just didn't work out.

"This is the focus of our program. I think you have to set a high standard and you go for it. We didn't live up to it this year, which is a shame, but that's the way it goes and that's why you play."

In order to ascend that final level and join the elite national golf powers such as Oklahoma State and Arizona State, coaches and players have to be single-minded in their approach to winning a national championship, Knight said. And, he added, you have to be able to accept failure on the road to that goal.

"Anytime you're playing for a championship, two things can happen: you can be at the top or you can have a not a successful tournament, and this one turned out to be that way," Knight said. "We'll be back in the pack next year but we've got three of these guys coming back and we'll be going after it again."

And that, Knight said, is the beauty of college athletics.

"That's the reason you play the championships," Knight said. "It doesn't matter who's number one coming in; some years, you may not have your best teams and you win and some years you may have your best team and not win. That's what makes college athletics fun and exciting."

Knight said he had as much fun this year as he has had in his 20 years as a head coach at New Mexico and UNLV. This year's Rebels won four tournaments, placed second five times, were the unanimous No. 1 team in the country for the first time in the history of the program and earned its first No. 1 seed in the NCAA Championships.

"I think for one year, we played incredible golf," Knight said. "It's really hard to come in and have one poor tournament like we did -- we haven't played a tournament like this all year.

"If you go back 16 tournaments to last year, we were first or second 12 times -- that's an incredible span. We only have one major championship a year for college golf. That's (the NCAA Championships) our focus and we didn't get it done. I feel sorry that we had such a good year and had to end that way."

Chip shots ...

* LVI FIELD SHAPING UP: Although it is still four months away, the Las Vegas Invitational already has received a pair of top player commitments for the 15th annual PGA Tour stop in Las Vegas. Former U.S. Open champion Ernie Els and former British Open champion Mark Calcavecchia have committed to play in this year's event, which will be held Oct. 22-26 at three area courses. This year's tournament will mark the first appearance by Els in the LVI while Calcavecchia tied for third place here last year.

* ODDS AND ENDS: To no one's surprise, Masters champion Tiger Woods has been installed a 2-1 favorite by the Imperial Palace race and sports book to win the 1997 U.S. Open. Tom Lehman is the second favorite at 12-1 while Nick Faldo, Greg Norman, Ernie Els, Colin Montgomerie and Fred Couples are listed 15-1. The U.S. Open will be played June 12-15 at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md.

* AROUND THE GREEN: Former UNLV standout Bobby Elliott tied for fifth place and earned $6,000 (Canadian) at the Canadian Professional Match Play Championship held last weekend at Elbow Springs Golf Club in Calgary, Alberta. Elliott stands in 18th place on the Just Play Golf Tour Order of Merit. Two other Las Vegans, Ken Whiteaker and Eddie Heinen, are ranked 38th and 41st, respectively, on the Order of Merit. ... The Las Vegas Paiute Golf Resort has named Las Vegas native Lisa Ferguson the new director of marketing and Kame Masterson the new tournament director for the resort's two 18-hole courses. The Las Vegas Paiute Golf Resort also announced it will break ground next week on its much-anticipated 50,000-square-foot clubhouse. ... Workers have begun sodding the new Jack Nicklaus-designed Links at MonteLago, an 18-hole daily-fee course at Lake Las Vegas. The course, Nicklaus' first public course in Southern Nevada, is expected to open later this year. ... The 1997 Links For Life Golf Tournament held last month at Lake Las Vegas' SouthShore course raised more than $50,000 for Child Haven, Clark County's refuge for abused, abandoned and neglected children.

* UPCOMING EVENTS: The PGA Tour will conduct the $1.5 million Kemper Open this week at the TPC at Avenel in Potomac, Md. Steve Stricker is the defending champion and CBS will televise Saturday and Sunday. ... The Senior PGA Tour is in Nashville for the $1.3 million BellSouth Senior Classic at Opryland. Isao Aoki won last year's event. NBC will televise Saturday and Sunday. ... The LPGA Tour will hold the Oldsmobile Classic at Walnut Hills Country Club in East Lansing, Mich. Michelle McGann is the defending champion and ESPN will televise all four rounds beginning Thursday.