Ex-UNLV assistant sees team miss cut

Friday, May 29, 1998 | 11:11 a.m.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- J.T. Higgins has been through the heartbreak of missing the cut in the NCAA Men's Golf Championships before. Only this time the pain was a little more intense.

Higgins was an assistant coach under Dwaine Knight last year when the Rebels failed to advance to the final two rounds of the NCAA finals. Thursday, Higgins ended his first season at the University of New Mexico when his Lobos missed the cut by a single stroke.

"It's pretty disappointing," Higgins said. "We just didn't capitalize on the par fives and we finished terrible -- both days.

"We were playing with Auburn (Thursday) and they finished nine under the last three holes and we finished even and they beat us by one shot. I kept watching their putts drop and ours didn't."

After spending six years as an UNLV assistant, Higgins got his first head coaching job last August and guided the Lobos to the NCAA West Regional championship earlier this month.

UNM was seeded 11th in the 30-team field this week and considered one of the favorites to contend for the national championship on its home course, the UNM Championship Course.

Higgins sensed his players were playing under a little self-imposed pressure the past two days.

"We were playing so good all week on this course, getting ready to play," Higgins said. "We made more birdies than I've seen out here all year -- maybe we used them all up before the tournament started. I think that they probably put a little bit more pressure on themselves than they needed to but they just wanted it really bad."

Despite Thursday's disappointment, Higgins called his first season as a head coach a success on a number of fronts.

"I had a great group of kids, they worked their butts off for me and we won the West Regional -- which I don't think many people thought we could do," he said. "We just came up a little bit short here. It was a lot of fun, I had a great time and I wouldn't trade the kids I had on the team for anybody -- they were outstanding and they did a lot to help me."

* MORE CUTS: New Mexico wasn't the only team expected to make the cut here this week that failed to do so. Georgia, which finished fifth in the East Regional and was ranked fourth in the nation, finished 17th and missed the cut by two strokes. Arizona, which tied for fourth at the West Regional and was ranked fifth in the nation, finished dead last in the 30-team field at 17-over-par 593. The Wildcats had the top-ranked player in the nation in senior Rory Sabbatini. North Carolina, the tournament's 12th seed after tying for sixth place at the East Regional, finished 25th and missed the cut by 12 shots.

* WORKING OVERTIME: North Carolina sophomore Max Harris will be competing this weekend for the individual championship even though the Tar Heels missed the team cut. Harris, at 2-under-par 142, was one of seven players involved in a playoff Thursday to decide the ninth and final individual golfer to advance to the final two rounds. Harris won the playoff with a birdie on the fourth hole.

* NAME GAME: Two players competing in the NCAA Men's Golf Championships this week boast some impressive bloodlines. Florida senior Josh McCumber is the nephew of PGA Tour regular Mark McCumber while Oklahoma State freshman Boyd Summerhays' uncle is Senior PGA Tour star Bruce Summerhays. The field also includes University of Texas-Arlington junior Harry Singh, but he is no relation to international golfer Vijay Singh.