May 18, 2004
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STORYLINE: The No. 15 UNLV men's golf team returns to Sunriver, Ore., this week to compete in the NCAA West Regional. Hosted at the exclusive Crosswater Course at Sunriver Resort (Par 72, 7,568 Yards), the NCAA West Regional will be played over three days from May 20-22, with a single 18-hole round slated for each day. The Rebels will play competitively at Sunriver for the second straight tournament as the course also played host to the Mountain West Conference Championship from April 29-May 1. UNLV is the No. 7 seed in the regional. The top 10 teams and two individuals from each of three regionals will advance to the NCAA Championship, slated for Hot Springs, Va., from June 1-4. The tournament will feature live scoring, available on unlvrebels.com, courtesy of Golfstat.
THE FIELD: Nine of the 27 teams in the NCAA West Regional rank among the top 25 in the latest edition of the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index. The NCAA and the University of Portland host: No. 4 Arizona State, No. 5 UCLA, No. 7 Arizona, No. 11 Southern California, No. 15 UNLV, No. 19 California, No. 20 New Mexico, No. 21 BYU, No. 24 Washington, No. 26 Colorado State, No. 30 Pepperdine, No. 37 San Diego State, No. 38 Toledo, No. 44 Central Florida, No. 53 Texas-El Paso, No. 56 UNC-Wilmington, No. 61 Stanford, No. 63 Furman, No. 66 New Mexico State, No. 67 Denver, No. 75 UC Riverside, No. 79 UC Irvine, No. 85 Coastal Carolina, No. 89 Long Beach State, No. 99 Louisiana-Monroe, No. 190 Loyola and No. 207 Wright State. Additionally, six individuals compete in the field: Matt Kodama (Hawaii), Travis Bertoni (Cal Poly), Graham DeLaet (Boise State), Chad Spencer (Fresno State), Joe Lanza (Saint Mary's) and Garrett Clegg (Utah).
ABOUT UNLV: The Rebels are currently ranked 15th nationally, according to the latest edition of the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index. They opened the spring with a runner-up finish at the John A. Burns Intercollegiate and are coming off a third-place showing at the Mountain West Conference Championship. Junior Ryan Moore, who has earned All-America honors twice, is presently ranked second nationally. He has won twice this season, including a victory at the MWC Championship in his last outing.
HEAD COACH Dwaine Knight: UNLV men's golf head coach Dwaine Knight is in his 17th year at the helm of the Rebel program. During his tenure, UNLV has been a perennial power with six league championships, 14 NCAA finals appearances and the 1998 national title. The 2002 MWC Coach of the Year was the only mentor to twice claim GCAA National Coach of the Year honors in the 1990s (1991 and 1998). He has produced an amazing 31 All-Americans and guided six different players to the PGA Tour at UNLV.
THE LINEUP: The Rebels' five-man lineup for the NCAA West Regional will be: Andres Gonzales, Sam Hunt, Ryan Keeney, Ryan Moore and Travis Whisman.
MEDIA: Results of the NCAA West Regional will be distributed to all regular UNLV media following each day's competition. The tournament will also feature live scoring, available on unlvrebels.com, courtesy of Golfstat. For those members of the media wishing to cover the NCAA West Regional in person, a credential request must be submitted to the University of Portland media relations office.
PAIRINGS & TEE TIMES: As the No. 7 seed, UNLV will be paired with the No. 8 and No. 9 seeds for the first round of play. Pairings for the final two rounds will be determined by leaderboard standings. The Rebels' first tee times are as follows:
Wednesday, May 19 9:00 a.m. Practice Round Thursday, May 20 1:00 p.m. Round 1 Friday, May 21 TBA Round 2 Saturday, May 22 TBA Round 3
UNLV AT THE NCAA WEST REGIONAL: The Rebels earned their 16th consecutive invitation to the NCAA West Regional. Only once in that span has the team failed to advance to the national finals, and it has finished in the top five all 15 other times. The Rebels have three wins as a team -- 1990, 1994 and 1997 -- and boast three individual medalists -- Hub Goyen (1990), Warren Schutte (1991) and Ed Fryatt (1994). Last year, UNLV tied for third, led by senior Brien Davis.
UNLV AT THE MWC CHAMPIONSHIP: In their last outing, the Rebels finished third at the Mountain West Conference Championship in Sunriver. UNLV shot a nine-over-par 873, finishing six strokes behind New Mexico and BYU. However, Ryan Moore shot a daily best 67 in the final round to break free from the pack and score a three-stroke victory over San Diego State's Mark Warman and Colorado State's Nolan Martin. His win marked the sixth individual conference title for the school and the first since Michael Kirk won the first MWC crown in 2000.
UNLV VS. THE FIELD: Head to head, the Rebels own a 30-22-1 record against the NCAA West Regional field this year. That record was assembled against just 16 of the 26 opponents bound for Sunriver, while UNLV has not faced 10 of the schools in the field. UNLV has been most successful against San Diego State, posting a 4-0 advantage over the Aztecs, and is 3-0 against both Colorado State and Texas-El Paso. The Rebels have struggled the most with the Arizona State, going just 2-5 in seven common tourneys.
MORE ON MOORE: Junior star Ryan Moore could possibly be the best player in college golf this year, and certainly one of the most heralded. The two-time All-American has a chance to join former Rebel and current PGA veteran Chris Riley as UNLV's only four-time All-Americans. The Puyallup, Wash., native was a semifinalist for the Hogan Award, presented annually to the top collegiate player in men's golf and an award for which he was a finalist last year. At 21, Moore has already played in two PGA major championships -- the U.S. Open and The Masters. He was also selected to the U.S. Walker Cup team last year and has twice been chosen to the U.S. Palmer Cup squad. He has three collegiate victories, and two in his last three tournaments. He won the National Invitation Tournament in Tucson, Ariz., in late March and won the Mountain West Conference Championship at the end of April. His victory there paved the way for MWC Player of the Year honors. He has eight top-five finishes in 11 events this year. The two-time UNLV Olympic Sportsman of the Year is currently ranked second nationally. He was named the MWC Golfer of the Month for both March and April and leads the league with a 69.83 stroke average.
TWO REBELS ON ALL-MWC TEAM: Ryan Moore and Travis Whisman were both named to the All-Mountain West Conference first team. Both golfers were repeat selections to the 11-man team. UNLV has had at least one all-conference player each year since 1988.
RECORD PACE: Ryan Moore is on pace to eclipse two school records for scoring average. Through 98 career rounds, the junior has a career scoring average of 71.46. Should that average hold, it would best the current school record of 72.01 held by Jeremy Anderson. Moore is also looking to top Anderson's single-season record for scoring average. Anderson finished the 1999-00 season with a 70.85 average. Moore is presently averaging 69.83 strokes per round.
POSTSEASON EXPERIENCE: Three of the Rebels' five-man lineup make their return to the postseason. Ryan Moore, Travis Whisman and Ryan Keeney were the core of last season's squad that rolled to a 13th-place finish nationally. Moore is the team's veteran with six rounds of NCAA Regional play to his credit and eight rounds in the national finals. Both Andres Gonzales and Sam Hunt make their first trips to the postseason.
CROSSWATER EXPERIENCE: While the postseason may be a new experience for some of the lineup, the course will not be. All five of the Rebels played the Crosswater Course at Sunriver Resort just three weeks prior to the NCAA Regional at the MWC Championship where UNLV finished third as a squad. Moreover, that was not UNLV's first trip to Crosswater. The Rebels have played the course once each season since 2001. Ryan Moore and Travis Whisman have both played in three MWC Championships at the course, and Ryan Keeney has been there twice. Moore has never shot worse than 75 at Crosswater competitively as a collegian and won the last college event played there.
