Depth has Rebels thinking of title

Adam Candee

Wednesday, June 1, 2005 | 9:45 a.m.

The improvement of the group playing in the second through fifth spots in the UNLV men's golf lineup has been vital to the team's success, as evidenced in lower stroke averages:

OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- It's not Moore plus four, at least not anymore.

Pithy rhymes aside, the UNLV men's golf team began NCAA national championship play this morning at Caves Valley Golf Course fronted by its strongest-ever player, but backing him with one of its best-ever groups.

In fact, backing is a misnomer because Travis Whisman, Andres Gonzales, Ryan Keeney and Jarred Texter must combine for three good scores per day to help Moore and each other to UNLV's second national golf title in school history. There is no shortcut for Moore to take to his final amateur goal of an NCAA team title. There is not much he can do at all.

Moore can, at most, be one-quarter of the team victory that he craved so much that he put off turning pro after winning last year's individual national crown and a summer's worth of major amateur titles in order to take one more crack in his senior year.

"There's nothing like winning a team goal," UNLV coach Dwaine Knight said. "You can win individual goals, but that's a special thing when you accomplish things as a group because it's not easy getting a bunch of individuals to go in one direction, in any business, any athletic team, any military troop."

Although the Rebels failed to qualify for nationals as a team last year, Moore never lost confidence that the group was talented enough to compete. A bad 2003-04 season marked by poor home qualifying rounds and overall disharmony ended poorly, but served to motivate the team to this year's stellar campaign that features three wins including the West Regional, as well as five second-place showings.

"It's by far the best team I've been a part of," said Whisman, a senior. "We've played well this year, finished well. But only a few times have we even come close to reaching the potential that we could play."

Confidence is soaring high enough for the Rebels that none of them is ready to concede first place to Moore. Whisman, the team's No. 2 player who finally fully recovered from serious back surgery three years ago to put together a strong year, said he and Moore both believe that any Rebel could win this week.

"It's not like I get any focus, and I never even get asked the question, 'Are you looking forward to nationals to win?' " Whisman said. "But yeah, I feel like I'm capable of winning the national championship as an individual and that's definitely what I'm going there to do."

Whisman, along with junior Gonzales and Keeney, are the linchpins of this more cohesive and friendly group. Whisman shaved a full stroke off his average from last year, while Gonzales and Keeney both shed more than two shots.

They credit each other with the improvement, saying that it is not only good to have friends to push each other, but also important to believe that each is capable of responding to the push. It's the concept of team that is required in college golf, but almost nowhere else in the sport.

"It definitely becomes the make-you-or-break-you factor," Keeney said. "That is absolutely so true. Last year, when you're putting your faith in other people -- or when you're attempting to put your faith in other people -- we failed. There was not much faith down the lineup."

Neither the Rebels nor Knight detailed much of what ailed the team internally last season, but personality conflicts appeared to combine with lethargic qualifying scores -- used to determine who cracks the starting five that travels to events -- to send the Rebels into a spiral. They failed to make nationals for just the second time in 15 years, not winning a single tournament and placing no higher than third against tough competition.

"People were going in different directions," Whisman said. "We weren't focused on the same thing. We weren't focused as a group. We were focused as individuals."

Yet Moore qualified for nationals as an individual and won, wishing the whole time that his teammates had been there. He announced shortly after his victory that he intended to return to nationals with his teammates to win the one prize he can't claim on his own.

Given the team's poor play down the stretch and its fractious problems, that move surprised -- and later impressed -- some Rebels.

"I think we were a little skeptical at first," Keeney said. "The year before, it was all about him and there was really no talk about team. So we were like, 'Wow, is that really true? He wants to come back for the team?' But I think that he pretty quickly showed that's what it's all about.

"Any sort of meetings that we had, any sort of talk about what was going on, a lot of it was not an individual-based conversation. A lot of it was about the team and what does the team need to do here, or what does the team need to do here. I think that he kind of proved himself."

Never one to raise his voice or get too riled up, Knight bristles a bit at the suggestion that Moore was not just one of the boys. He points to the team's victory at ASU while Moore was at the Masters as the perfect example.

"I'll tell you that nobody was prouder than Ryan Moore," Knight said. "He's playing in probably the biggest tournament of his career and he was calling to see how those guys did. He called them; they didn't call him. He called them. And I think that's a great statement."

To a man, the Rebels said Moore's decision to return for the team was a compliment to them individually and as a group. They did not feel added pressure to perform because of it, but rather a renewed sense of purpose about winning a team championship.

"After such a poor year we had last year, for him to come back and say that to the media and to the public, I think it just gave us all a lot of confidence in ourselves," Whisman said.

They have played in higher pressure at home than at tournaments, as 10 different players have cracked the starting lineup for UNLV. That is a sweet number to Knight, who feels that qualifying scores are the lifeblood of the competition that has improved the team.

"It was a respect factor, knowing everybody was out for the same reason," Gonzales said. "Everybody was working just as hard as the next guy to win a national championship."

Playing in tough competition at home not only sharpens skills, Knight feels, but also gives incontestable proof of who deserves to play.

"You have to prove yourself through those qualifyings," Knight said. "And through that fire comes confidence on the other side. It becomes confidence to you that you can go through that and earn a spot, no matter what anybody thinks of you. You've earned it and you have the chance to travel.

"But the other thing is those other guys respect that because you've had to dig your way out and find a way to play. When a team comes on the road and they're going to either win or be close to winning, a lot of teams would never change that lineup. We're more than willing to do that here, but the only way that happens is if you prove it yourself."

They have proved it, beating tough fields both in their home win at the Southern Highlands Collegiate Championship and the West Regional. Even with Moore playing at less than 100 percent at regionals, all four of his playing partners stepped forward with big showings, including Texter's excellent team low round of even-par 70 on the final day, to get the job done.

They're hot, and more important, each player believes it about himself and his teammates.

"With how straight and how everybody's keeping the ball in play over the last two or three months, I think we're the team to beat out there," Gonzales said.

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