UNLV’s Berry Not Afraid to Look Back Now

Chris Berry would rather forget his first experience at the NCAA Division I men’s golf championships. Now he has something memorable to replace it.

Berry led Nevada Las Vegas to the NCAA golf title, shooting 16-under-par 272 last month in Albuquerque, N.M. It was quite a breakthrough for the Rebels, a perennial power that had come close to winning college golf’s biggest tournament without having done so.

UNLV’s victory was record-breaking; the Rebels’ 34-under total beat the previous 72-hole low by 11 strokes. Berry, a former Esperanza standout, was in the thick of it, challenging for the individual title before tying for second with three others, a stroke behind champion James McLean of Minnesota.

For Berry, it was a complete turnaround from his performance in the 1996 championships. Berry had played so poorly at The Honors Course in Ooltewah, Tenn., that he considered quitting the sport. He finished dead last--shooting 91-81-87-85, a crushing 56 over par--and didn’t contribute at all to the runner-up Rebels, who lost to Arizona by three strokes.

“It was probably one of the worst experiences I have gone through in my whole life,” said Berry, who had played his way into the lineup late in the season. “If they would have brought anyone other than me, they probably would have won.”

This time, Berry was nothing but an asset for the Rebels.

He shot 70-68-67-67, helping the Rebels hold it together when Clemson challenged in the final round. UNLV began the round 10 strokes ahead of Clemson, but Berry’s teammates, solid all week, were struggling. Berry, however, finished the front nine with a birdie and eagle for a four-under 32 and birdied the next two holes to move into a tie for the lead.

After a bogey (he three-putted No. 14) and a birdie, Berry was still tied for the lead going into the final three holes. But he said he wasn’t thinking of the individual competition, only the fact that Clemson was getting closer. At one point on the back nine, the Rebels’ lead was cut to one.

“After 14, I couldn’t even breathe,” Berry said. “It’s hard to imagine unless you have experienced it, but it was really tough.”

On 16, Berry missed an eight-foot birdie putt. He bogeyed the 250-yard, par-three 17th to drop out of the tie for the lead. When Berry stepped up to the 18th, the Rebels led by three.

On his second shot on the 597-yard par five, Berry hooked his three-wood onto the hard pan. Then from about 75 yards with a terrible lie, he punched a pitching wedge onto the green, 78 feet from the hole. He two-putted for par, making a six-footer to finish and give the Rebels their victory. “I was so nervous,” he said. “I could barely see the ball. It was a little blurry.”

Berry said the victory was especially satisfying because of what it means to the team and UNLV Coach Dwaine Knight.

“I truly mean this: I could care less about the individual thing. It’s just so much better winning the team title. It’s just an awesome, awesome thing.”

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Berry, who has all but completed work toward his bachelor’s degree in sports marketing, will return to UNLV to play out his final year of eligibility.

Although his parents have moved out of their Yorba Linda home and are building a home in Las Vegas at the Tournament Players Club at Summerlin, Berry doesn’t want to lose his ties to Orange County. After he finishes at UNLV, he would like to move back. He said he loves the area, but there’s another reason he’ll keep coming back. Just the other week, he returned to work his longtime teacher, Tom Sargent, the head pro at Mesa Verde Country Club.

“I did a ‘Cannonball Run’ or ‘Smokey and the Bandit’ thing before the NCAA tournament,” Berry said, describing a round trip from Las Vegas to Costa Mesa (for a two-hour lesson with Sargent) and back. “That really helped. I hit the ball so well.”

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Add it up: The Toshiba Senior Classic announced an additional $100,000 in money for charity when it recently completed final accounting of the 1998 tournament.

The event made a little more than $700,000 for Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, which picked its cancer center as the primary beneficiary. Orange County Special Olympics and the Senior PGA Tour’s program to fight prostate cancer also received donations of $25,000 each the tournament.

The 1999 event will be March 8-14 at the Newport Beach Country Club and there will no increase of the $12 one-day ticket.

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Open Dreaming: Eleven golfers with local ties take part in the final round of U.S. Open qualifying today at Lake Merced Golf and Country Club in Daly City.

The field of 92 will be trying for the six spots into the U.S. Open, which is June 18-21 at the Olympic Club in San Francisco.

Brian Sinay, a sophomore at University High, shot 70 and was a medalist in the first round of qualifying at Victoria Country Club in Riverside.

Also in the field today are: Tim Albitz (Newport Beach), David Beatty (San Clemente), Justin Boatman (Mission Viejo), Brian Carlson (Westminster), Byung Park (Irvine), Brian Ricketts (formally of Cypress College), Steve Runge (Mission Viejo), Alan Tapia (Laguna Niguel), Tim Todd (Yorba Linda) and Kent Wiese (Huntington Beach).

There will be 89 players who earn their place in the open field through qualifying today and Tuesday at 12 sites across the United States.

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The Orange County Golf Notebook runs weekly during the summer. Suggestions are welcome. Call (714) 966-5904, fax 966-5663 or e-mail Martin.Beck@latimes.com or Steve.Kresal@latimes.com