Wednesday, March 31, 2004 | 9:23 a.m.
Straighter shots finally solved a troubling course for UNLV's Ryan Moore.
After failing to break par in the past two years at Tucson National Golf Club, the Rebels' junior standout shot his second red number of the week -- a 2-under 70 -- on Wednesday to complete a convincing victory in the National Invitation Tournament in Tucson, Ariz.
Moore scorched the course with an opening round of 64 and finished at 10-under for the tournament, holding off Washington's Brock Mackenzie by two strokes to claim his first title of the season and the second of his college career.
"It kind of helped to shoot that number in the first round," Moore said. "It got me out to a comfortable position."
Before this week, Moore's best round at Tucson National was an even-par 72 from his freshman season. He finished tied for 20th as a freshman at 6-over, then tied for 24th as a sophomore with an identical score.
He credits his improved ability to hit straight drives and irons for his better play on the challenging course.
"It's a lot easier to shoot low numbers hitting fairways and greens," Moore said.
Now ranked sixth in the nation by Golfweek, Moore said he began to see major improvement in his game near the end of the fall season when his swing started to feel more comfortable. Combined with a recent switch to Ping irons, 3-wood and driver, Moore said he is "playing as good as I ever have, really."
Moore nearly earned his first win of the year at the Southern Highlands Collegiate Championship, UNLV's home tournament. He bogeyed the 18th hole after coming into it needing a birdie to force a playoff.
Rebels coach Dwaine Knight saw then that the next win for Moore, a Hogan Award finalist as the nation's best college golfer for the second consecutive season, was probably not far off.
"He's been close and it's always fun to get that next one," Knight said.
As a team, the Rebels are not close. Despite Moore's win, UNLV finished in a distant sixth-place tie at 4-over, with junior Travis Whisman's 31st-place tie at 4-over as the next best score.
The Rebels have slipped to 12th in the Golfweek rankings. More disturbing to the Rebels' postseason forecast is their losing record against teams in the Top 25 and Top 50 in the nation. Of teams currently ranked in the top 15, only 10th-ranked Arizona and 13th-ranked Minnesota also have losing records against the Top 50.
"We're just not competitive right now and that's disappointing," Knight said.
After opening the spring season with a second-place showing at the John A. Burns Intercollegiate in Hawaii, the Rebels have struggled. They tied for eighth at Southern Highlands and placed 10th at the Hall of Fame Invitational in Houston before this tournament.
Knight can only hope that Moore's performance is a beacon to the rest of his team.
"We're looking for a spark and we got a great one out of Ryan this week," Knight said.
"We're looking for some guys to step up. We've got to have some help."
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