Sept. 10, 2003
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STORYLINE: The No. 20 UNLV women's golf team opens its third season of play this week at the Northwest Invite in Sunriver, Ore. Played at Woodlands Golf Course (Par 72 -- 6,100 Yards), the three-round affair begins with 36 holes on Monday, Sept. 15 and finishes with the final 18 on Tuesday, Sept. 16.
ABOUT UNLV: The Rebels return four starters and eight letterwinners from last season's NCAA Regional-qualifying team. On the heels of its strong finish last year, the young squad is ranked 20th in the Golfweek preseason rankings. Sophomore Sunny Oh, a preseason All-American, is the top returning player for head coach Missy Ringler, who is in her second season at UNLV.
THE NORTHWEST INVITE: This will mark the Rebels' second appearance at an Oregon State tournament, the other coming in October of 2001 at the Shanico Invitational. Just the second-ever tourney for the Rebels in their inaugural season, UNLV finished 10th and was led by then-freshman Hwanhee Lee, in 25th.
THE FIELD: Oregon State University hosts a 16-team field: Boise State, Eastern Washington, Idaho, Long Beach State, Portland, Portland State, San Francisco, San Jose State, Texas A&M, TCU, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, Washington State, Weber State and UNLV.
THE LINEUP: The Rebels' five-player lineup for the Northwest Invite will be Elena Kurokawa, Hwanhee Lee, Sunny Oh, Young Pak and Seema Sadekar.
MOSTLY SUNNY: The Rebels' season outlook is pretty bright behind sophomore All-American Sunny Oh. Oh became the first-ever UNLV women's golfer to compete in the national finals after she won the NCAA West Regional. The win marked the young freshman's first after finishing as a runner-up twice before in the season. Her late season push earned her honorable mention All-America honors and preseason recognition from Golfweek.
HEAD COACH Missy Ringler: UNLV women's golf head coach Missy Ringler is in her second 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 previous 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.
