Monday, March 3, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
SANTEE, Calif. -- By winning the Taylor Made/Big Island Intercollegiate golf tournament two weeks ago, the UNLV golf team hoped to set the tone for the spring season.
Heading into the 54-hole Aldila Collegiate Golf Classic, which begins today, the Rebels are hoping to set the tone for the postseason. Both this week's tournament and the NCAA West Regional in May are being played on the 7,000-yard Carlton Oaks Country Club outside San Diego.
"The thing I'm really looking forward to is to get a real good feeling of the golf course down there and seeing where we can attack it and where we're going to have to play more strategic golf," UNLV head golf coach Dwaine Knight said.
"I think it's good that we're getting to see it this early in the year and we'll be able to come out of it with a game plan of how we're going to play in when we go back for the regionals."
UNLV, ranked No. 1 in the Rolex Collegiate Rankings, will be tested by a strong field that includes No. 4 Arizona, No. 12 Southern Cal and No. 16 Brigham Young. Rounding out the 18-team field will be Air Force, Colorado State, Oregon State, Pepperdine, San Jose State, Fresno State, UCLA, California, Washington, UC Irvine, Washington State, UC Santa Barbara and two San Diego State squads.
The Rebels will field the same five players this week who helped UNLV to team titles at the Ping Preview Invitational last October and the Hawaii tournament last month: Seniors Gilberto Morales, Mike Ruiz and Mike Vance, junior Bill Lunde and sophomore Ted Oh.
Lunde picked up his first collegiate individual championship last month in Hawaii with a 6-under-par 210 that included an opening-round 65. Vance tied for third place in the same tournament and Oh tied for second at the Ping Preview earlier this season.
"It's a real key week for us to see who plays the golf course well out of the group that we take down there," Knight said. "We're excited about the tournament and I think it's going to be very valuable to us."
The Aldila Collegiate Golf Classic begins today with all 18 teams playing 36 holes. The tournament will conclude Tuesday with 18 holes.
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