Knight: Highlands tournament tough to top

Tuesday, March 21, 2006 | 8:18 a.m.

For as long as the UNLV men's golf team has been a national power, there has been talk among the Rebels' boosters of staging either an NCAA regional or NCAA championship final in Las Vegas.

After all, Las Vegas is home to several world-class golf courses and the weather in mid-May and early June usually is superb.

Rebels coach Dwaine Knight, however, remains in favor of bringing the top teams in the country to Las Vegas on an annual basis - instead of once every five or six years - via UNLV's Southern Highlands Collegiate Championship. This month's tournament, which UNLV won, attracted seven of the top 10 teams in the nation.

"My focus has been on trying to have our tournament that we host be the best in the country because we do that every year," Knight said of the tournament played at Southern Highlands Golf Club.

"There certainly would be an opportunity to host a regional at Southern Highlands because it's such a great test, and the other teams seem to appreciate it. But now you have to bid so far out - three, four, five years out for a regional and almost seven years out for a national."

And from a fan's perspective, an invitational tournament has the potential to attract more top-ranked teams than an NCAA regional and - possibly - even an NCAA championship. The top five teams from the preceding year's national championship automatically are invited to the Southern Highlands Collegiate Championship.

"This was the third year in a row now that we've had, really, a stronger field than the national championship," Knight said. "I think it would be great to host a regional, but I think this is probably the best thing for our program.

"I think the thing that helps us the best is to bring the best teams here and have one week of championship quality as far as field and golf course - and we have both of that right now."

Big Stakes

A golf tournament boasting the richest purse in golf - $9 million - and a $2 million first prize is moving from Mesquite to Las Vegas' Paiute Golf Resort in May.

Co-founded by former NFL quarterback Steve Bartkowski, the second annual Big Stakes Match Play Golf Championship will feature 128 two-player teams and an entry fee of $100,000 per team. Based on a full field, 40 teams will earn a piece of the $9 million purse and the winning team will split $2 million.

David Ping of Southern California and Garth Mulroy of South Africa won the inaugural Big Stakes Match Play Golf Championship last year at the CasaBlanca Golf Club in Mesquite. NFL linemen Ross Verba and Barry Stokes financially backed Ping and Mulroy, and former major league pitcher Rick Rhoden played in last year's event.

The Big Stakes Match Play Golf Championship is scheduled May 20-28. All golfers 21 years of age or older who do not have full exempt status on the PGA, European, Champions or Nationwide tours for the 2006 season are eligible. Additional information can be found at www.bigstakesgolf.com.

Former UNLV standout Chad Campbell's ranking on the 2006 PGA Tour money list

Consecutive cuts made by Ernie Els, the longest active streak on the PGA Tour