Rebels Six shots back at NCAAs

Thursday, May 28, 1998 | 11:23 a.m.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- There should have been a sense of relief among the UNLV golfers going into today's second round of the NCAA Men's Golf Championships at the University of New Mexico Championship Course.

Instead, the Rebels appeared more disappointed -- albeit optimistic -- than relieved after shooting a 4-under-par 284 Wednesday and virtually assuring themselves of making the cut to the low 15 teams.

A year ago, in Lake Forest, Ill., UNLV struggled to a 16-over-par 300 in the opening round of the NCAA finals and missed the cut the following day. It was no secret the Rebels players were intent on getting off to a good start Wednesday.

While 4 under par wasn't bad -- it put the Rebels in a tie for sixth place, six shots behind first-round leader Oklahoma State -- senior Bill Lunde said it felt like a wasted opportunity in near-perfect conditions. Strong winds that whipped the course on Tuesday were nonexistent Wednesday.

"Four under is solid but conditions were awful nice out there today so it would have been nice to get a really good round in," Lunde said of the Championship Course.

"We shot four under and that's definitely not bad, but when you get a nice day like this, you like to play well. But if four under is the worst we're going to do, we're going to do awfully well."

UNLV was paced by sophomore Jeremy Anderson and junior Chris Berry, who shot matching 70s. Junior Charley Hoffman was the only other Rebel golfer to break par, at 1-under 71, while Lunde and freshman Scott Lander carded 73s.

Berry and Anderson were tied for 21st in the individual standings, three shots behind first-round co-leaders Kyle Voska of Miami, Ohio, Ryan Armour of Ohio State and J.J. Henry of Texas Christian.

Anderson, who has two wins this season, echoed Lunde's sentiments about not taking advantage of optimum scoring conditions.

"We obviously could have played a little better than we did but we certainly didn't shoot ourselves out of the tournament," Anderson said. "You can't win the tournament on the first day but you can certainly lose it.

"We all knew how important it was to get off to a good start and not put ourselves behind the 8-ball like we did last year. We've done that, we shot 4 under par -- it's not leading but it's right up there and we'll be right in there for the next three days."

Lunde added, "Five or six shots is nothing in college golf. That's fine, we're in a good position."

Lunde was not so confident earlier in the opening round, however, and hinted that he may have had a flashback to a year ago in Lake Forest.

"I was struggling out there a little bit and I didn't know what was happening (with the rest of the team)," Lunde said. "We talked about not looking at leader boards and I had no idea how anyone else was doing and I just thought, 'I hope everyone else is playing better than me (because) I didn't want to go through that all over again.'"

The field of 30 teams will be cut to the low 15 and ties following today's second round and, barring a collapse of historical proportions, the Rebels will remain in Albuquerque for two more days to contend for their first national championship.

UNLV head coach Dwaine Knight said he had all the confidence in the world that this year's team would not repeat the first-round debacle of a year ago.

"I just feel like this is a different team and we've approached things a lot differently than we did a year ago," Knight said.

UNLV was hovering around 14th place going into the final hole Wednesday -- a 495-yard, uphill par-5. The Rebels played the hole in 6 under par and vaulted into a tie for sixth place.

"It wasn't our best round, that's for sure, but we got away with a big hole on the last hole and that kept us in the golf tournament," Knight said. "I like where we are and I know if we get a (good) round out there (today), we'll be right back in the thing."

Right back in the hunt for the national championship, that is, which is not out of the question for a team that has won six times this season.

"You look at a year ago, the first round, we really stumbled and we had to have a great round coming back," Knight said. "Now we've got a solid round under our belts and we feel like we can get a little bit better each day.

"I thought this would probably be our most difficult round (because) we're not real fast starters. Traditionally, the first nine that we play is not our best nine and then we kind of get a little bit better. We still feel we have got some real good rounds ahead of us."