Thursday, Oct. 12, 2000 | 11:02 a.m.
Before UNLV was a powerhouse in collegiate golf, the Rebels had Skip Kendall.
It wasn't a bad fit, Kendall fancying himself as just an average college player and UNLV, at the time, an average golf program.
Today both have changed for the better, Kendall having solidified his position as one of the finest players in the world and the Rebels having emerged as yearly contenders for the national title.
"I wish I'd have played at UNLV after Coach (Dwaine) Knight was here," Kendall said Wednesday after opening the Invensys Classic at Las Vegas with a 65 at the TPC at Summerlin. "But I had fun under Coach Chub (Drakulich), even if he wasn't a golf coach per se."
Kendall may have pre-dated UNLV's rise through the golf ranks, yet, like many of the school's stellar players who followed, he's a superb golfer and congenial as well. He seemed happy to talk about how he landed in Las Vegas and what the experience has meant to him.
"It was kind of a bizarre situation," he said. "I lived in Milwaukee and was nearing the end of my senior year in high school and had made a verbal commitment to Wisconsin. One day the coach calls me and says he's sorry, but they didn't have room for me after all.
"I was kind of turned off by that and decided I would try to go somewhere else. Out of the blue, Coach Chub called me at the beginning of June and offered me a scholarship.
"He sent me a plane ticket the next day and I wanted to say 'Where do I sign?' but I waited until I took the trip out here. I came off the plane and from the airport and never saw anything like it.
"I knew I was going to be living in Las Vegas for a while."
He played with the Rebels from 1982-86 and graduated in 1987, a year before Knight arrived and transformed the program into the success it remains today.
"I just met Coach Knight last year," Kendall said. "I'd heard so many good things about him and I'm glad to say they all appear to be true."
He said he wasn't anything special as a Rebel.
"I considered myself average," he said. "I mean, I was competitive, but nothing like the player I am now or ever thought I would be. I certainly wasn't a great player when I was here, although I always thought I had the potential to be a tour player."
By 1993 he was on the PGA Tour and playing regularly. While he has yet to win a tour event, he has continued progressing and last year finished No. 38 on the money list with $962,642.
Entering this week's play he ranks No. 63 in 2000 earnings, with $625,501.
"Step by step, I've improved," the 36-year-old Kendall said. "Even now, I try to take the little steps that will make me better."
He put up a good number to open the Invensys and made timely putts on each of the last three holes to secure his 65. Playing the back nine first, Kendall had birdies at Nos. 13, 15, 16, 17, 1, 4, 5 and 9, and a bogey at No. 2. At No. 7 he saved par from five feet after missing the green, the result of a tee shot that was in the trees. At No. 8 he canned an eight-footer to two putt from long range. And at No. 9 he recovered from a disappointing second shot to sink a six-foot putt for a closing birdie.
"I don't mind these pro-ams," he remarked. "It's a relaxed atmosphere and sometimes that works for me. I've had some pretty good pro-am tournaments.
"Today the course was there for the taking, so at least I kept myself in the running."
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