Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Rebels regroup following tough journey to Japan

BRIAN HILDERBRAND is a Las Vegas Sun sportswriter. His golf column appears Tuesdays. He can be reached on the Internet at [email protected]

UNLV head coach Dwaine Knight isn't panicking after the Rebels' seventh-place finish last week in the rain-shortened Topy Cup in Japan.

But he is disappointed.

The Rebels, the preseason No. 1 team in the country and the defending national champions, finished the tournament at 35-over-par 611 -- 24 shots behind team champion Tohokufukusi University and fourth among the four U.S. schools in the 12-team field.

"We just never really got untracked as a team," Knight said. "We didn't play well and we're going to have to if we're going to be competitive."

Although the Rebels had been together as a team for only about a week before jetting overseas, Knight said both he and his players felt they should have put forth a better effort.

"It was important for us to get over there and try to compete and do well and we didn't do our job," Knight said. "I don't think we were really ready to play and I think it showed. Now we've got some things to work on and I think we'll learn from it.

"I know the kids were disappointed and so was I in that we weren't more competitive. On the other hand, we now know where we need to go with it a little bit."

The Rebels, who finished behind Arizona State, Arizona and UCLA in the tournament, traveled to Japan with two new players: freshman Adam Scott and junior-college transfer Michael Kirk. Both came straight to Las Vegas after competing in the U.S. Amateur and had been in town less than two weeks before the team left for Japan.

Seniors Chris Berry and Charley Hoffman and junior Jeremy Anderson rounded out Knight's starting five. Anderson had the best showing as he finished fourth.

"That was the first time I got to see them play as a group," Knight said. "We had (Kirk and Scott) come right out of the U.S. Amateur, in school one week, qualify the next and then go -- it was a pretty hard trip.

"Michael and Adam didn't have the opportunity to get their feet on the ground and I think that had a little effect on us, too. It's a good experience to play over there but it's an awful difficult one because of the length of the travel; it really beats you up."

Although Knight is not discounting the results of last week's tournament, he said that next week's Ping Preview Invitational at Hazeltine Country Club in Minnesota will provide a better gauge for where the Rebels stand.

"We've got a big tournament coming up in the Preview and I think that will be probably a little bit better test for us as far as having everybody here and ready to go and have some time under our belt with them," Knight said.

"The best teams in the country will be there and I think this will be a really good test for us. Hopefully we'll have our feet back under us and (we will have learned) something from last week."

* FIELD SHAPING UP: With only five tournaments remaining in the LPGA Tour's regular season, the field for the Nov. 19-22 PageNet Tour Championship at the Desert Inn Golf Club is beginning to take shape. The tour's leading money winner, Annika Sorenstam, and U.S. Women's Open champion Se Ri Pak -- both four-time winners this season -- already have clinched spots in the 30-player field, as have Donna Andrews, Liselotte Neumann and Karrie Webb. With her second-place finish two weeks ago in Washington, Laura Davies vaulted into the top 30 in earnings at No. 26. Among the notable players who have some work to do in order to get into the Tour Championship are LPGA Hall of Famers Patty Sheehan, 44th in earnings, and Nancy Lopez, who is ranked 49th. Only the top 30 money winners are eligible for the season-ending tournament.

* ADD LPGA Tour: LPGA commissioner Jim Ritts announced Sunday that beginning in 1999, children 15 and younger will be allowed in LPGA Tour tournaments free of charge when accompanied by a paying adult. "And not just one kid," Ritts said. "You could have one adult and five kids." It is not known if the policy will apply to next year's season-ending PageNet Tour Championship in Las Vegas.

* UPCOMING EVENTS: The PGA Tour is in San Antonio this week for the Westin Texas Open at LaCantera Golf Club. Tim Herron is the defending champion; The Golf Channel will televise. ... The Senior PGA Tour heads to Augusta, Mo., for the Boone Valley Classic at Boone Valley Golf Club. Hale Irwin won last year's tournament; ESPN will televise. ... The LPGA Tour resumes this week with the CoreStates Betsy King Classic at Berkleigh Country Club in Kutztown, Pa. Annika Sorenstam is the defending champion.

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