Take Five: UNLV golf

Thursday, April 24, 2008 | 2 a.m.

It is safe to say the UNLV men’s golf team has been the school’s most successful athletics program during the past two decades. In 21 seasons under head coach Dwaine Knight, the Rebels have won six conference championships, advanced to the NCAA finals 16 times and earned three national championships (a team title in 1998 and individual titles in 1991 and 2004). UNLV annually is ranked among the top teams in the nation and has no fewer than six former players on the PGA Tour.

So it might come as a surprise to learn that the Rebels have not won a Mountain West Conference championship since 2002. And it has nothing to do with the Rebels’ placing greater importance on the NCAA postseason.

“Our goals have always been really high,” Knight said. “Our focus is trying to compete nationally, but this is important to us. You want to be the champion of your conference — that has always been important.”

It’s not as if the Rebels haven’t been in contention at the past five conference tournaments. UNLV hasn’t finished lower than fourth as a team since 2002 and last year lost to team champion BYU by one shot on the final hole of the tournament.

UNLV goes into this year’s conference tournament ranked 13th in the nation with a pair of victories and a streak of eight tournaments in which the team has finished fourth or better.

As the ninth annual Mountain West Conference Men’s Golf Championship opens today with the first of three rounds on the Catalina Course at Tucson National Resort, Knight gives us his five keys to winning the conference championship.

1. Hit the greens

“Even though the greens are big, it’s easy to get careless and miss those greens. We lost a tough one last year by one shot, and that’s going to be a huge key for us, to see if we can hit a lot of greens and give ourselves chances.”

2. Hit the fairways

“A lot of times, the fairways look pretty wide open because you don’t have the definition like a really tight tree-lined course. You can kind of miss the fairways a little bit and still get away with it. It can be forgiving if you miss it in the right spot, so it’s important to have a good target off the tee.”

3. Keep it low

“One thing we’ve done well is we’re not having the really big numbers this year that we’ve experienced in the past. We’ve cut those down, so our birdies and eagles are counting a lot more. If we can keep giving ourselves chances, that’s going to pay big dividends for us.”

4. Stay patient

“We’re a little more patient team right now and we’re doing a better job of not forcing it. I think the maturity of the team has come from playing in the last group so many times this season. We’ve been in that last group now, going into the final round, for seven or eight straight tournaments and that’s always been an indicator that we’re competitive and now it’s just a matter of picking it up and finishing it off.”

5. Finish strong

“No. 18 is a great hole — it was one of the best on the PGA Tour for so many years. You’ve got water hazard left and water hazard right and it’s about 480 yards and it usually plays into the wind. You’ve got to stand up there with a lot of trust and hit it and hit a great shot.”