Dreary day for Rebels

Adam Candee

Friday, June 3, 2005 | 11:16 a.m.

OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- Caves Valley Golf Course gave the UNLV men's golf team major trouble through the first two days of the NCAA championship, and that was in mostly innocuous weather.

Add in this morning's driving rainstorm and umbrella-blowing wind, and the Rebels were no match for a track that some players said played at least 1,000 yards longer than normal because of the wet weather.

UNLV is in serious danger of missing the cut after struggling to a third-round score of 22-over, pushing their three-day total to 36-over and leaving the Rebels in need of some help to make it to the final round of a tournament many expected them to win.

"We thought we'd be in it, no doubt about it," UNLV coach Dwaine Knight said. "We haven't handled the test this week."

Both Travis Whisman and Jarred Texter shot rounds of 11-over 81, meaning the Rebels can only throw out one of the bad scores. Ryan Moore played his strongest round of the tournament to finish at 1-over 71, but even he bogeyed his final two holes.

UNLV is not the only team scuffling in the tough conditions, but tournament leader Georgia managed to play through the rain to keep a significant lead at 14-over, 22 shots ahead of the Rebels. Both Knight and Moore said that even if UNLV makes the cut, a deficit so large might be too big to overcome in one round.

"That's pretty deep to try to make up (22) shots," Knight said. "(Twenty-two) back is pretty hard. We always gauge (our chances) at about 15 shots back."

The course is actually holding up rather well considering the weather, and tournament officials plan to complete the round. Moore, who grew up playing in the constant rain of the Seattle area, said he's never seen anything like today's situation here.

"That's the longest course I've ever played," Moore said, saying the 7,124-yard course could feel as long as 8,500 yards for those playing afternoon rounds. Knight said Moore's round would have been good enough for a 5-under on most days. Moore said he hit 3-woods and even 2-irons into many par-4 greens, as drives simply died when they hit the soggy fairways.

"That was such a great score," Knight said of Moore. "You don't know how hard that is." Moore battled back after two tough rounds, especially a Thursday round that looked little like his usual game and demeanor. Most days on the course, all you can learn by looking at Moore's stoic face is whether or not he shaved that morning.

As putt after maddening putt refused to go in the hole Thursday, though, Moore began wearing the frustration of the best part of his game disappearing in his final college tournament. His shoulders slumped and his head tilted down, Moore bogeyed five and birdied none of his first 13 holes, and appeared to live the disgust of his three-putt and even four-putt holes throughout the day.

"The way I putted (Thursday) was just pitiful," Moore said. Moore rallied a bit in the final five holes, as did most of his UNLV teammates, to post a 3-over 73, and a round that felt poor when it finished got a small reprieve when the rest of the field struggled in the afternoon to bump the Rebels up to a tie for fifth after Thursday.

"A golf course like this, you can't change your approach really," Whisman said. "You either play well or you don't. There's not really opportunities out there where you can change your game plan to be more aggressive."

As noticeably unhappy as Moore, Whisman said he is not sure why the Rebels have not yet busted out.

"Maybe we've put a little more pressure on ourselves, I don't know," Whisman said.

High expectations and UNLV golf are synonymous with Moore these days. A Ben Hogan Award winner and sudden celebrity after his solid Masters play, most simply assumed Moore would be right in the hunt to defend his individual national crown -- just as Moore assumed he would be displaying the deft putting touch that UNLV coach Dwaine Knight considers the best on the team.