No. 1 Rebels going for championship

Wednesday, May 14, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

In reality, the UNLV golf team needs only to finish ninth of 18 teams in this week's NCAA West Region Golf Championship to advance to the NCAA Men's Golf Championships.

But the No. 1-ranked Rebels have a far more ambitious goal heading into Thursday's opening round of the 54-hole event at Carlton Oaks Country Club in Santee, Calif.

"One of the things we want to do is go in there and focus on trying to win the championship and be competitive," head coach Dwaine Knight said. "Being seeded No. 1, we've had that honor a couple times in the past and we know that if we play well, that relates to good tee times and pairings@the national championships."

UNLV will field a team that has played together seven times this season and won twice, finished second four times and fourth once.

Leading the Rebels will be senior Gilberto Morales, who carries a 72.96 scoring average into the regional. The native of Caracas, Venezuela, has five top-10 finishes in nine events, including a second-place at the Ping Invitational in April.

Joining Morales on the Rebels' five-man team will be senior Mike Ruiz, who has played in all 11 of the Rebels' tournaments this season and has a 73.84 stroke average (including 10 rounds under par) and two top-10 showings; junior Bill Lunde, who has the Rebels' lone individual tournament title this season, six top 10s and is averaging 73.39; sophomore Ted Oh, who has a 73.18 scoring average and three top 10s; and freshman Jeremy Anderson, who boasts a 73.12 stroke average, nine rounds under par and two top 10s.

Although the Rebels are ranked No. 1 in all three major collegiate polls and are the top seed in the West Regional, they will have their work cut out for them this week. UNLV played at Carlton Oaks in February and finished a disappointing seventh (of 18 teams) against a weak field.

Knight and his players said they are looking forward to getting another crack at the 7,008-yard Carlton Oaks.

"I think we've got a real good game plan this time," Knight said. "Having played there helped us a lot in our decision making; we're not guessing now, we know exactly what we have to do, it's just a matter of execution."

A relatively straight-forward course, Carlton Oaks gave the Rebels fits in February. The par-3s were especially troublesome for UNLV, which was a combined 18 over par on the seventh and 12th holes during the first two rounds of the Aldila Golf Classic.

"We know what we need to do and the holes that we struggled with. I think we have a little bit better strategy going in," Knight said, referring to Nos. 7 and 12. "If we're actually able to implement that plan and execute it, we're going to be in good shape."

Lunde, who finished tied for 37th at Carlton Oaks in February, agreed.

"It's a tough course -- it's one of the longer ones we play -- but we hit the ball pretty good so it's in our favor," Lunde, who is from nearby Poway, said. "Everyone knows the mistakes you can make out there and now we know how to attack the course (so) we don't make those mistakes."

Ruiz, who also grew up in San Diego, said the Rebels are eager to redeem themselves on the course he played regularly while at Patrick Henry High School.

"We didn't play the course very well (in February)," Ruiz said. "It seemed like we were kind of in cruise control. We're looking forward to getting another crack at it and I know we'll play it better this time around."

Because the Rebels saw Carlton Oaks during the winter when the trees that line the course were void of leaves, Knight said he expects the course to play tougher this week -- and that's just fine with him.

"Once the trees are filled in a little bit, you're not going to be able to see some of those driving areas that we were able to see early in the spring," Knight said. "As the course toughens, I really believe that's to our advantage. We're a little bit more of a shot-making team and I think that helps us a lot. The harder the golf course is playing, we usually tend to do pretty well."

In addition to the course, the Rebels will be tested by a strong West Region field that includes fifth-ranked Southern California (which won the Aldila tournament in February), No. 7 Arizona State, No. 8 Arizona, No. 11 New Mexico and No. 20 BYU. UNLV has never finished lower than fifth at a regional and won it in 1990 and 1994.

"I think the West region is the strongest region again, and has been for the last couple of years, so there are several teams that are certainly capable of winning the golf tournament," said Knight, whose team is making its ninth consecutive appearance in the regional.