Columnist Victoria Sun: Rebel golfers vie for traveling positions in team tournament

Victoria Sun

Wednesday, Oct. 27, 1999 | 10:03 a.m.

Victoria Sun is a Sun sports writer. Her golf column appears Wednesday. Reach her at 259-4078 or victoria@vegas.com

The UNLV men's golf team plays its next tournament Nov. 5 at the Golfworld Collegiate Invitational. But right now the 12 players on the team are already facing some fierce competition.

Each other.

Every week before a tournament, the team holds its own qualifying tournament to determine which five players get to travel.

The players with the top two scores at the end of the week automatically get to go and then UNLV coach Dwaine Knight picks the final three players.

On Tuesday afternoon, Rebel junior Scott Lander, sophomores Adam Scott and Robert Sul and freshman Alexander Strandberg played a round at the Las Vegas Country Club while other Rebels played at two other courses.

Lander thinks the system works out well for everyone.

"The competition is great," Lander said. "We've got a few of the best players in the country on the team and those who aren't are trying to be.

"It gets competitive, but it's all in fun. It's pretty laid-back. It gives everyone a chance to travel.

"You know that if you're one of the top two you get to go, but if you're not, you can't expect to go because you never know who will get picked."

While the guys are out on the course doing their best to shoot a low round, Knight will often observe them to see which players are doing well leading up to a tournament.

This season, Knight has had the task of trying to figure out how to solidify the last two spots in the lineup since Charley Hoffman and Chris Berry graduated last season.

With Jeremy Anderson, Michael Kirk and Adam Scott returning, the Rebels have been steadily improving since the start of the season when they finished 11th at the Ping/Golfweek Preview Invitational.

At the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate, UNLV tied for third place and most recently at the Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate, the Rebels tied Clemson for first before falling in a two-hole playoff.

"I was pleased with their performance," Knight said of the tie. "That was more like Rebel golf.

"We were competitive all three rounds. We put ourselves in a position to win going into the last day which is always a measuring stick for us. We had a chance to win going into the last nine holes. Our goal is to have a chance to win every tournament."

* CARDED: Former UNLV golfer Edward Fryatt earned his PGA Tour card for the 2000 season by finishing sixth on the Nike Tour money list. The top 15 finishers on the Nike Tour qualify for the PGA Tour. Fryatt graduated from UNLV in 1994.

* JUNIOR DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM: The Southern Nevada Junior Golf Association is holding a six-week program for beginner, intermediate and experienced junior golfers starting Oct. 30 at the Las Vegas International Golf Center. The classes are 55 minutes long with a 5-to-1 student to teacher ratio and the cost is $120. For more information call 798-8700.

* JUNIOR TOURNAMENT: The Thanksgiving Junior Classic for all age groups will be held Nov. 26 at Angel Park Cloud Nine. Tee times will start at 11:00 a.m. The entry fee for the tournament is $15 and limited to 90 participants. The deadline to enter is Nov. 12.

* SNJGA JUNIOR GOLFERS OF THE YEAR: Congratulations to the 1999 SNJGA Boy Player of the Year, Drew Scott, and the SNJGA Girl Player of the Year, Jordan Auten.

Drew is a junior at Green Valley High School and placed first in the Boys 4A Zone Golf Championship last year. He finished in the top five of eight local events he played this summer, finishing first in four, and he qualified to represent Nevada on the Boys America Team.

Auten is a senior at Bonanza High School and hopes to go to college on a golf scholarship. She finished first in seven of 15 SNJGA golf tournaments and finished second at the Albertson's AJGA Classic at the Twelve Bridges Country Cub in Sacramento, Calif. She also represented Southern Nevada on the Girls America Cup Team.