May 16, 2003
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STORYLINE: UNLV freshman golfer Sunny Oh will be the Rebels' first and only representative at the 2003 NCAA Championship in West Lafayette, Ind. The Rebels' superstar earned an individual berth at the national finals after winning the NCAA West Regional in Tempe, Ariz., on May 10. The 72-hole event, hosted by Purdue University, will be played at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex (Par 72, 6,225 Yards) from Tuesday, May 20 through Friday, May 23, with 18 holes scheduled for each day.
ABOUT UNLV: The Rebels enter this week ranked 32nd in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index. They finished 11th at the NCAA West Regional, failing to earn of the region's eight qualifying spots for the NCAA Championship. However, freshman Sunny Oh qualified as a individual after winning the individual race at the regional. Oh climbed to a No. 50 ranking following her first career victory and becomes the only women's golfer in the program's brief two-year history to reach the national finals. Head coach Missy Ringler is in her first season at UNLV.
THE FIELD: The University of Purdue hosts the 24 teams that earned qualifying berths at the three regionals: Arizona, Arizona State, Auburn, California, Duke, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Kent State, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Pepperdine, Purdue, South Carolina, Southern California, Stanford, Texas, Tulsa, UCLA, Vanderbilt, Washington State and Wisconsin. A total of six individual, two from each regional, are included in the field: Christine Boucher (Kansas State), Brandi Jackson (Furman), Katie Futcher (Penn State), Nicole Melton (Texas A&M), Lindsay Morgan (Washington) and Sunny Oh (UNLV).
ABOUT OH: Sunny Oh has already set some lofty standards for the Rebels' budding program, owning school records for low round (67) and low tournament (215). She has one victory and another runner-up showing in just her first season as a collegian. She is UNLV's only national finals participant in its two-year history.
HEAD COACH MISSY RINGLER: UNLV women's golf head coach Missy Ringler is in her first year at UNLV. She took over for Kelley Hester, who left to become the head coach at Arkansas. An All-Big Eight golfer at Iowa State from 1990-95, Ringler spent the last three years as the head coach at the University of Minnesota. She and her husband, Lance, welcomed their new son, Landon, on January 11, 2003.
