Rebels look forward to getting back in 2006

Adam Candee

Monday, June 6, 2005 | 9:28 a.m.

OWINGS MILLS, Md. - Leave it to the kid who experienced one of the more unusual golf careers in UNLV history to perfectly sum up this unusual trip to the national championship tournament.

"Some weeks, things happen," Travis Whisman said. "And some weeks, balls hit sprinkler heads."

When a favored team ends up in a tie for eighth that is too high to call a disaster and too low to consider a success, there is not much else to say.

In the final round of his senior season, Whisman watched a well-struck shot careen 40 yards beyond his target and into trouble after striking a sprinkler head. Fellow departing senior Ryan Moore shot a closing round of 4-under 66, but his struggles with a rarely used putter earlier in the week removed him from contention to defend his individual crown. A strange penalty in a bunker helped derail Jarred Texter's last round from a solid even-par pace to a 5-over 75.

Things happen, and so do sprinkler heads.

Not much happened in the right way for the Rebels, who entered nationals as a favorite to win but never seriously challenged. A finish of 42-over landed UNLV right in the middle of a large pack of perennially tough teams, but a huge margin off champion Georgia's winning score of 15-over. Washington's James Lepp defeated Pepperdine's Michael Putnam - a good friend of Moore, as well as UNLV's Andres Gonzales and Ryan Keeney - in a playoff to succeed Moore as individual champion.

For all of UNLV's accomplishments this season, coach Dwaine Knight's ultimate goal is always a national championship and his team did not come close this time. The Rebels played eight competitive rounds on the narrow tree-lined fairways of Caves Valley Golf Club this season, including the Preview tournament in the fall, and never matched their strong play everywhere else on this tough track outside Baltimore.

"This is a golf course we really should have played well," Knight said. "The really tough day (Friday), I'm really disappointed there because normally, we handle tough conditions very well and we did not. That just really hurt us badly. That's kind of the hallmark of our team, but we'll go work hard on that next year."

Like most of the field, the Rebels struggled to a team total of 22-over on that tough Friday that featured constant rain and driving wind that created conditions the Rebels called among the most difficult they have ever endured on the course. By that point, though, UNLV needed a miracle and some help to get into contention anyway.

A couple of memorable stories end here, although another interesting one begins. Moore, the most decorated player in both UNLV and college golf history, closes the book on a storybook year dating back to the 2004 nationals.

"It was probably everything I could have asked for," Moore said.

He finished tied for fifth at 2-over, an accomplishment after shooting a combined 5-over in his first two rounds as he switched to a putter he'd not used much since last year. Moore swore off the putter Thursday afternoon and said with no hesitation that his scores would improve for the weekend.

"I'm going to the next couple of days," Moore said of bettering his putting.

He responded Friday by shooting a 1-over 71 that would have been good for 65 on any day when the fairways were not soaking in drives like quicksand and lengthening the course by many football fields. Saturday's strong round pleased Moore, although he very seriously said he hoped to shoot a 9-under 61 to get into contention.

In typical Moore fashion, he downplayed the experience of playing his final college round as little more than another 18 holes of golf.

"There wasn't a whole lot of emotion," Moore said. "I wasn't teared up or anything over it."

Nor was Whisman, the Robin to Moore's Batman for much of his UNLV career. Heralded as one of the country's best players when he chose UNLV over Stanford, Whisman suffered major back trouble that required surgery three years ago and struggled to meet the initial expectations.

"It's kind of like starting over again from a little kid learning how to play the game," Whisman said of coming back from surgery.

Whisman carded a dismal four-day total of 22-over, worst of the Rebels and tied for 67th overall. Both Whisman and Knight admit that the young man's career did not match their hopes, although Knight spoke of his pride in Whisman getting past the injury and the loss of his mother in a car accident right before he came to UNLV.

After overcoming the back surgery to finally emerge as the Rebels' clear No. 2 player this season, Whisman progressed from furious to subdued to bemused over the days as he tried to explain his troubles at nationals. By Saturday afternoon, he simply sounded relieved to be moving on to his professional golf dreams, starting this week on the Butch Harmon mini-tour.

"It's a little surreal," Whisman said of the end of his college career. "Its feels really weird right now, just because I know it's done. It's going to be weird not having the guys around."

The guys, though, are going to be even better next year, even without Moore. If that sounds crazy, consider the source of the assessment.

"I think they'll be even better next year," Moore said. "I think so. I really, really think so."

Texter, a true freshman, showed moments of brilliance throughout his rookie season and will be a full summer removed from a major grip change. He will try to leave behind a 20-over score from nationals as he heads into U.S. Open sectional qualifying this week. Both Keeney (10-over) and Gonzales (13-over) return as seniors to pick up the leadership duties from Moore, and Knight said his recruiting class of five players is one of his finest in years.

"I think we're going to be a good team," Knight said. "I feel really comfortable with that."

Knight pointed to the fact that 10 different players competed in tournaments this season as a sign of the Rebels' depth and talent. At least half of them appear capable of cracking the top two or three spots in the UNLV lineup. Once set by Moore and Whisman, the No. 1 and No. 2 spots are now open for the taking again.