Oct. 29, 2004

Las Vegas - Four of the top-25 women's golf teams in the country will be in Las Vegas for the 3rd Annual Las Vegas Founders Collegiate Showdown, hosted by UNLV and Anthem Country Club in Henderson, Nev.

Started in 2002, this year's three-round, 54-hole tournament starts Nov. 1 and runs through Nov. 3. Five individual golfers will make up each team, with the four-lowest scores each round counting toward the total team total.

This will be the fourth tournament of the season for the UNLV women's golf squad and its first at home. UNLV's lineup features senior Hwanhee Lee, sophomore Seema Sadekar, freshman Allison Chell, senior Tina Mabanta and junior Elena Kurokawa.

Joining the Rebels in the 17-team field will be No. 3 Washington, No. 10 Missouri, No. 18 Stanford and No. 25 USC. UNLV is currently ranked 43rd in the latest Golfweek rankings.

Among the top individuals are Paige MacKenzie and Kim Shin of Washington and Maria Ohlsson of Missouri. MacKenzie and Shin are ranked 13th and 17th individually in the nation according to Golfweek while Ohlsson is No. 15. Ohlsson finished second at last year's tournament by two strokes, firing a one-under 215 for the tournament.

Absent from this year's tournament is New Mexico, which won the first two team titles of the Showdown. The Lobos also took home individual honors as well in both tournaments, as Kristi Larsen won the inaugural Showdown in 2002 and Katrina Leckovic won last year.