UNLV poised to repeat 1998 team’s success

Adam Candee

Monday, May 23, 2005 | 9:58 a.m.

The most impressive proof that the UNLV men's golf team is ready to contend for a national championship is not the NCAA West Regional title it won last weekend.

Strong as it is to go in as the top seed and live up to the billing, it is even more difficult to earn a favorable comparison from coach Dwaine Knight to his cherished 1998 team that won UNLV's only national golf title.

"I think we're playing a lot like the '98 team," Knight said Sunday. "One of our litmus tests for what we consider a competitive team is that the team has a chance to win."

Placing no lower than third in a tournament since September appears to meet that test for Knight. The Rebels won the regional at Stanford, Calif., with a three-day total of 6-over 846, three strokes better than Mountain West Conference rival New Mexico. It is UNLV's first regional victory since 1997 and it earns the Rebels a spot at nationals, which begin June 1 at Caves Valley Golf Course outside Baltimore, Md.

"A lot goes with that, so that's a really good place to be," Knight said.

Knight is referring to the preferred practice times and tee times that come with entering nationals as a high seed. After a grueling couple of weeks that included the conference and regional tournaments, as well as final exams, Knight plans to back off with some lighter practices this week.

Senior Ryan Moore, who finished tied for sixth at 2-over, may benefit the most from the planned rest. Moore has enjoyed little downtime since finishing tied for 13th in the Masters almost six weeks ago, and Knight said he expects his star player to be fully rested for his run at defending the NCAA individual championship.

Juniors Ryan Keeney and Andres Gonzales also played well at regionals, both carding totals of 3-over to tie for 15th. Keeney appeared poised for an even higher finish Saturday before shooting a triple bogey score of eight at the 16th hole.

Senior Travis Whisman turned in a respectable 4-over to place tied for 21st, while freshman Jarred Texter recovered from two bad rounds to post UNLV's low score of 1-under 70 in the final round, improving his total to 7-over, good for a tie for 39th.

"We got pretty good play everywhere," Knight said. "We were really kind of cruising there for a while."

The Rebels led by 10 strokes for much of Saturday. They hope to carry that momentum to Caves Valley, the one course that gave them trouble this year. Playing at the Preview in September, UNLV finished ninth out of 15 teams in its first look at the national championship course. While Moore fired a final round of 4-under 66 to finish tied for third, no other Rebel placed in the top 20.

Knight said that score could be misleading because his team has dramatically improved in the past eight months.

"This is a different team from that one," Knight said.

This marks UNLV's 15th appearance at nationals in the past 17 years. The Rebels failed to advance to this stage last season, missing the national championship tournament as a team while Moore went on to win the individual crown.