Wednesday, March 5, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
SANTEE, Calif. -- They had completed their third and final round in the Aldila Collegiate Golf Classic only minutes earlier and, already, the members of the UNLV golf team were itching for another crack at Carlton Oaks Country Club.
"Everyone is confident that we can play out here, so I think when we come back, everyone will be mentally ready to play and ready to prove that this course can't get the best of us," junior Bill Lunde said after the Rebels shot a final-round 303 Tuesday and slipped to seventh place in the final standings.
Carlton Oaks will serve as site of the NCAA West Regional in May, and the Rebels were using this tournament to get a feel for the course and how to attack it. Head coach Dwaine Knight hopes his team learned one thing about the Perry Dye design during its three rounds on it this week.
"Hopefully, we gained a little respect for it -- that's what I'm hoping," Knight said. "I just know it's a good golf course and you've got to really be on your toes to play it."
Knight even suggested that the Rebels, ranked No. 1 in the nation by one poll, might have taken the 7,008-yard, tree-lined layout for granted.
"We've been on a run the last four months where we've made a lot of birdies and had a lot of success and we came in here and it didn't happen," Knight said.
"Hopefully we walk away from here with a lot of respect for this place and look forward to coming back and having to play it again -- and look forward to the challenge of trying to play it properly."
After opening the 54-hole tournament with a 7-over-par 295 Monday morning, the Rebels bounced back with a 3-over 291 in the afternoon. Following the rounds, Knight held a team meeting in which he went over the Rebels' game plan for Tuesday's final round. But his players failed to execute.
"Hopefully, we've got a little bit better strategy by playing the course," Knight said. "Even though we didn't execute it (Tuesday), I think some of the mistakes that we talked about (Monday) night that showed up today, hopefully, that will hit home and they will understand that there are certain things you don't do on certain holes."
The University of Southern California apparently had the proper strategy, as the Trojans shot 8-over-par 872 to win the team title by eight strokes over Arizona and Pepperdine. USC's Chad Wright captured the individual championship by beating Arizona's Rory Sabbatini on the third playoff hole.
Senior Mike Ruiz of UNLV, who started the final round two shots behind Wright, struggled to a 76 Tuesday and tied for sixth place at 1-over-par 217. Ruiz, who posted his first top-10 finish of the season, took himself out of contention for individual medalist early by playing the first six holes in 4-over par.
Lunde turned in the Rebels' best score in the final round, a 1-over-par 73, and finished tied for 37th place. Lunde, who has one win this season, said the tournament served as a learning experience in preparation for the West Regional.
"It's a tough course -- it's one of the longer ones we play -- but we hit the ball pretty good so it's in our favor," Lunde said. "The greens are tough to putt, which means you have to be patient and let it happen out there.
"We played probably as bad as we can play (Tuesday) and I think we know what we're getting ourselves into because now we know the course. Everyone knows the mistakes you can make out here and now we know how to attack the course where we don't make those mistakes."
The bunker-full of mistakes UNLV made this week won't cost the Rebels their No. 1 status in the Rolex Collegiate Rankings. UNLV will play in two Texas tournaments, at Houston and Austin, before the next poll is released.
If the Rebels play well in either or both tournaments, they should hold onto the top ranking in the points-based poll.
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