June 4, 2004
Complete Results
HOT SPRINGS, Va. - UNLV junior Ryan Moore won the second individual men's golf national championship in school history Friday as he completed his final round with a 66 at the NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship.
Playing in a steady, cold rain, Moore, the nation's second-ranked player, won the title by six strokes over Wake Forest's Bill Haas and Arizona's Chris Nallen, ranked No. 1 and No. 4 respectively.
"It's hard to put it into words right now," Moore said of his win. "It means a lot. This was the goal at the beginning of the year, just to even get here. So to pull out a victory, it's hard to put it into words right now."
"I've played six rounds of golf with Ryan this week, four rounds and two practice rounds, and it was pretty special," said Haas. "He shot a 66 in the final round. I would have had to shoot a 62 just to tie him. So I didn't really have a shot. So my hat's off to him. He beat me. I played my game and he played better."
With the victory, Moore brings home UNLV's third national title in men's golf. Warren Schutte won the individual crown in 1991, and the Rebels captured the team title in 1998.
"I'm really proud of him," head coach Dwaine Knight said. "I thought it was a fabulous round when he needed it. He's been so consistent all year, and this was another great round under tough conditions."
Moore, of Puyallup, Wash., finished the 72-hole tournament at 13-under par. He carded rounds of 67, 70, 64 and 66 at the par-70, 6,679-yard Cascades Course at the Homestead Resort, including 20 birdies and an eagle.
"I wasn't worried about anyone else," Moore said. "I was just out there trying to take care of my own business and play the way I knew I could. I knew, with a couple of shots lead, that if I went out and played a solid round, then I'd be virtually uncatchable, especially with the rain and the conditions today. It was that irritating weather, which kind of gets to you after a while. But I wasn't going out there thinking I could shoot 72 or 73 and pull it out. I knew I had to play good with these guys chasing me."
In winning his third tournament of the year, Moore becomes the first player since Arizona State's Jim Carter in 1983 to take the NCAA Championship while playing as an individual without his team.
The win was not just his third of the year, but his third in his last five tournaments. In fact, the Rebel ace has not finished worse than third since late March.
He also claimed the Palmer Award, presented annually to the national champion, and unsurprisingly earned first-team All-American honors.
Along with the honors, Moore also etched his name into the school record books in a few places. With a total score of 267, he broke Chris Berry's school record for low 72-hole score by five strokes. His 69.38 scoring average also shattered the school's single season record of 70.85 held by Jeremy Anderson, and his career scoring average of 71.15 bested Anderson's 72.01 total.
He also carded the school's best first, third and final round scores in the NCAA Championship, and his third-round 64 is the lowest total by any Rebel at the national finals.
Moore will not return to Las Vegas immediately. He will depart Virginia for Columbus, Ohio, on Friday night, and play in the U.S. Open Sectional Qualifier there beginning on Monday, June 7.
