Walk-on Rhoads

Published: Thursday, December 8, 1994

Walk-on Rhoads

emerging on top

Golfer finishes second, third in recent tourneys

By Chris Isidro

It started as a great way to get some playing time on the overcrowded links of Los Angeles.

But when Kevin Rhoads walked onto the UCLA men's golf team two years ago, little did he know that he would one day find his name on a tournament leader board. In his first opportunity to compete regularly, the fifth-year senior is finding his niche as a front-runner, placing third at the Nike Northwest Classic and second last week at the Rebel Classic with a final round 69.

"It's real fun being up there," Rhoads said. "That's what it's all about."

Reaching the pinnacle is never easy, but for Rhoads, the path was especially bumpy. His father was the head pro at the San Francisco Golf Club and his uncle is a former pro at the Riviera. But despite this rich golfing background, the game was never shoved down Rhoads' throat.

"I've been around golf my whole life," Rhoads said. "However, it's interesting because my dad never pushed it upon myself or my brother until a late age. We just grew up playing everything else."

In high school, Rhoads earned all-league honors in golf, but never made the effort to take his game another notch. When Rhoads left home for UCLA, he realized how much he really appreciated golf.

"Growing up in a golf family made me take it for granted because it's always around even when I wasn't putting a lot of time into it," Rhoads said. "So when I got here, I knew I wanted to play and get better at it."

During his freshman year, Rhoads took advantage of a nightmarish parking situation to take his swipes on the links.

"I didn't have parking my freshman year and I had to move my car between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. everyday," Rhoads said, "so I would just go to the golf course and work on my game then."

Eventually, the realities of the Southern California golf scene caught up with Rhoads. His junior year, frustrated by the big crowds and long waits at the greens, he stepped into head coach Dave Atchison's office and signed up for the team.

"I wanted to continue to be around golf but Los Angeles is golf-crazy, so course availability is not very good," he said, "unless you're associated with something such as a team."

Just making the golf team would be an uphill climb for the 5-foot-7-inch Rhoads. Along with his small physical stature and shortness off the tee, Rhoads also had to combat his competitive inexperience.

"While I played a little in high school, I didn't take it seriously until I got to UCLA, which meant I was behind most college players in development," Rhoads said. "Most college players were real good junior players competing as early as junior high."

The first thing he needed to work on was his distance off the tee. Although he possessed pinpoint accuracy, college golfers carry big sticks and Rhodes somehow needed to squeeze a few extra yards from his driver.

"The game of golf is pretty much a power game nowadays so that put Rhoads at a disadvantage," Atchison said. "I told him that he needed to gain 20-30 yards off the tee to be competitive with the bigger kids."

To the beat of the Rocky theme song, Rhoads took to the weights, hit the pavement, and went to the range and pounded golf ball after golf ball.

"He worked out hard, lifted weights, went jogging and worked on that swing to get those extra 30 yards he needed," Atchison said.

Rhoads attributes his massive gains less to his conditioning and more to the mechanics of his swing. He says the extra 30 yards was just a matter of physics at work.

"I think to a large extent, it's just an improvement in my technique," Rhoads said. "The better your swing is, the straighter you will hit it and the farther it will go and I believe I've just become a better ball striker."

"We call him the Robo-Golfer now because he has his swing down so repetitively now and he understands it so well," Atchison added.

While he did not compete regularly before this year, Rhoads began to realize his hard work would pay off. But when he shot a 3-under-par 213 at Oregon State, he surprised even himself in a way.

"As hard as I've worked, I like to think things like that will happen," Rhoads said. "In fact, it's surprised me that it's taken as long as it has for me to break through and I feel it's justified it's happening for me."

There will be a few more tournaments ahead this season for the senior, but soon enough, his short stint in college golf will come to an abrupt end. While he wonders what might have been if golf were top priority, he is happy about how things have shaped up.

"I do wish I had started a little earlier because I see my game at the level of a good sophomore right now and I would've liked a couple more years to pursue it and see how good I could become," Rhoads said. "I'll qualify that in one way though, I didn't have the desire before so I can't really wonder what would have happened because it's happening the way it should happen."