June 3, 2004
Results
HOT SPRINGS, Va. - For the second time this season, UNLV junior golfer Ryan Moore shot a 64 at the par-70, 6,679-yard Cascades Course. However, on Thursday it was good enough to move him into the lead for the national championship.
Moore moved to nine-under par at the NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship and now leads Arizona's Chris Nallen by two strokes heading into Friday's final round.
"I don't know what that number (64) is about on this course, but I'd take one more of them for sure," Moore said after his round. "I don't think it played any easier today. I just hit the ball a little better and a little closer and made good on my opportunities."
"He's obviously played very well," UNLV head coach Dwaine Knight said. "Sixty-four is a heck of a round in the national championship. He has put three good rounds together, and done it playing head-to-head with No. 1 player in nation (Wake Forest's Bill Haas). I think that has motivated Ryan, and now he has a chance to compete for a national title."
Moore, who is ranked No. 2 just behind Haas, has been paired with the Wake Forest individual for two practice rounds and all three rounds of competition.
The Puyallup, Wash., native began the day at the No. 10 tee box just one stroke off the lead. After back-to-back birdies on 14 and 15, Moore made a strong leap, sinking a 40-foot eagle putt on the par-5 17th.
Moore added three birdies on the back side and nearly pulled off a bogey free round before giving a stroke back on No. 8. He still signed a scorecard of 64 for the fourth time this season.
His score missed Sam Snead's course record by two strokes and fell just one stroke short of the UNLV record of 63 held by Jeremy Anderson.
Should he win, Moore would join Warren Schutte as the only two individual champions in UNLV men's golf history. Schutte won the 1991 individual title.
A Moore victory would also mark the eighth national title in UNLV history. UNLV has two team national championships - the 1990 men's basketball title and the 1998 men's golf title - and five individual crowns.
Moore looks for his third win of the year and fourth of his career. However, the only time he carried a lead into the final round was at the National Invitation Tournament in Tucson, Ariz., earlier this year. He held on to win by two strokes.
UCLA took the lead in the team race, carding 275, the best team round of the tournament. The Bruins hold a five-stroke edge over Kentucky.
Moore will play his final round with Haas and Indiana's Jeff Overton at 9:12 a.m. EDT.
