June 19, 2003

Results

PALM COAST, Fla. - Three UNLV women's golfers survived the first round of match play and advanced to the round of 32 at the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship at Ocean Hammock Golf Club on Thursday.

Elena Kurokawa, Hwanhee Lee and Sunny Oh all made the cut after two rounds of stroke play and won their first-round match-play competition on Thursday. Kurokawa, a native of Redondo Beach, Calif., defeated Candy Herrera of Apple Valley, Calif., 1 up, and will meet defending Pub Links champion Annie Thurman in the second round.

Lee, a Los Angeles product, cruised to a victory over Jessica Castle of Plantation, Fla., 6 and 5. Lee will meet junior national phenom Michelle Wie, 13, of Honolulu, in the second round, a rematch from last year's semifinal contest in which Lee defeated Wie 3 and 2 to advance to the final. Lee advanced to the final before falling to Thurman, 6 and 5.

Oh, a Seoul, Korea native who has transplanted to Las Vegas, knocked off Kwan-Chih Lu of China, 4 and 2, and will face Becky Lucidi, a Poway, Calif., product who led the University of Southern California to the national title this year.

Should any of the three Rebels win Friday morning's second round match, they would play a third-round match in the afternoon for the right to advance to the quarterfinals of the 144-participant field.