Knight impressed with play of suprising Rebels

Tuesday, Feb. 10, 1998 | 10:43 a.m.

Nobody is more surprised by the UNLV golf team's success this season than Rebels head coach Dwaine Knight.

Despite losing three starters from last year's team, UNLV has won three tournaments, finished second in another and is ranked No. 1 in the nation by one poll.

"They're constantly amazing me, this group," Knight said in the wake of last week's victory in the Ping Arizona Intercollegiate in Tucson. "It's a new group because we lost those three players off last year's team (Ted Oh, Mike Ruiz and Gilberto Morales) so it's really kind of a new chemistry that has developed among this group.

"I don't think people had very high expectations of us coming in. But they did and they're going out and proving that their expectations were right."

Even if his players believed they were capable of such strong play, Knight said he never imagined they would reclaim the top ranking as soon as they have.

"We started these rankings seventh, eighth in the polls so this was not a team that was expected to reach this level at all throughout the year," Knight said. "I didn't think they would jump up into this spot like this. I thought we would be a team that could keep improving throughout the year and then maybe have a shot at the end.

"I think this is a real blessing that they've gotten this kind of recognition. I think their confidence is growing with every victory. I know we're going to have some tough times -- there are going to be some ups and downs with this group -- but I'm just very, very proud of what they've done so far."

Knight said he is not worried about this team's ability to handle the pressure of being ranked No. 1 when the postseason rolls around in May. Last year, the Rebels were ranked No. 1 for much of the season, then failed to make the cut at the national championships.

"I think we've learned a lot from last year," Knight said. "It's difficult to go into a national championship, regardless of how you're playing, being ranked No. 1 -- we had never done that before. I think the way we handle things off the course will be a lot different if we happen to go back into that situation.

"I think as difficult as it was to not play well (at the finals), I think we learned an awful lot last year."

While the Rebels may have surprised some people with their play earlier this season, they won't have that advantage the rest of the spring or in the postseason after winning three times in their first six starts.

"It's a lot easier to come from behind and not have expectations on you and challenge for (a national championship) than it is to be the one that's supposed to win it," Knight said, summing up the Rebels' 1996-97 season.

"That's tough, that's the hardest way to win the championship. But if you're going to be a great program, those are things you have to do to be able to be considered one of the best in the country."

The Rebels resume the spring portion of their schedule this weekend at the Taylor Made/Big Island Intercollegiate in Kona, Hawaii.

* AROUND THE GREEN: In UNLV's five-shot victory over Arizona in last week's Ping Arizona Intercollegiate, junior Morten Vildhoj keyed the Rebels' title run by firing a final-round 69 -- 10 shots better than his second-round score. It was Vildhoj's first sub-par score in nine rounds this season. Senior Bill Lunde leads the Rebels with a 72.21 scoring average and has posted seven sub-par rounds. Sophomore Jeremy Anderson is second at 72.29 with five rounds under par and junior Charley Hoffman -- who missed last week's tournament because he was playing in the PGA Tour's Buick Invitational as an amateur -- is third at 72.91 with four sub-par rounds.

* UPCOMING EVENTS: The PGA Tour is in Hawaii this week for the United Airlines Hawaiian Open at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu. Paul Stankowski is the defending champion. ABC will televise. ... The Senior PGA Tour is in Florida for the GTE Classic at the Tournament Players Club of Tampa Bay. David Graham won last year's event. ESPN will televise. ... The LPGA Tour is back in the swing of things this week after a two-week hiatus and will stage the Los Angeles Women's Championship at Oakmont Country Club in Glendale, Calif. Terry-Jo Myers is the defending champion.

BRIAN HILDERBRAND is a Las Vegas SUN sportswriter. His golf column appears Tuesdays. He can be reached on the Internet at bh@lasvegassun.com