Rebel golfers face tough regional in Indiana
Usually, the number UNLV men’s golf coach Dwaine Knight is thinking about is “one” — as in first place.
Not this week. Knight’s new number is “five.”
That’s the key when play begins Thursday at the NCAA regional in Noblesville, Ind. The 29th-ranked Rebels need to finish in the top five in the 54-hole event in order to qualify for the NCAA championship, to be held in Bradenton, Fla. from May 29 to June 3.
“We’ve got our work cut out for us,” Knight said. “It’s a long course and we’re using a different lineup.”
The Rebels will be without freshman John Oda, who has a sprained right wrist. The Mountain West Freshman of the Year injured himself during the conference tournament this month and Knight had hoped rest and treatment would have him ready for the regionals.
In Oda’s place, UNLV will play junior AJ McInerney, who has recovered from a back injury and has shown he is capable of putting up a low score. Playing in the No. 5 spot will be senior Nicholas Maruri, who also has had success late in the spring in previous NCAA Tournaments.
“We’re fortunate in that regard,” Knight said. “AJ and Nico both are proven competitors and we’re hoping they can step up and give us what we need at the bottom of the lineup to move forward.”
UNLV will play seniors Kurt Kitayama and Carl Jonson in the top two spots with freshman Shintaro Ban playing in the third spot usually reserved for Oda. McInerney will play the fourth spot with Maruri at No. 5. It’s that fifth spot Knight has been concerned about all season and remains a concern heading into Thursday’s opening round.
“We’ve played a lot of different people (at No. 5) this year but no one has stepped up and said, ‘This is mine,’ ” Knight said. “But Nico has played well in the past in these situations. He’s a senior and this is it for him. He played well in the qualifying and he’s earned his spot in the lineup.”
Aside from Oda’s injury, Knight likes the way his team is coming into the regional, which will be played at The Sagamore Club, a par-72, 7,173-yard course, hosted by Ball State.
“We played very well in Tucson and we had a really good first two days,” Knight said of the Mountain West championships which saw UNLV finish one stroke behind champion San Diego State. “I was happy to see Kitty win medalist honors and I thought our lineup played well.”
The regional field UNLV will face includes Illinois, the No. 3 team in the nation along with No. 12 Oregon, No. 17 UCLA and No. 20 Alabama. It’s a solid field but not overly tough.
“We’ve played with all these teams,” Knight said. “We’re familiar with them and we know when we’re playing like we can we can compete with anyone.”
What UNLV is not familiar with is the course. The Rebels were hoping to stay in the West and perhaps had they won the conference tournament, they would have been able to stay in the Pacific time zone. Instead, they left Monday for Indiana and will play a practice round today.
“It’s a typical (Jack) Nicklaus course — long and demanding,” Knight said. “You have to keep the ball in play and be strong off the tee. But I think we should be OK. (Assistant coach) Phil (Rowe) knows the course from when he was at Stanford so his knowledge will be valuable to our guys.”
Live scoring from the regional can be found on UNLV’s website, unlvrebels.com or at Golfstat.com.
Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj.