May 11, 2004
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STORYLINE: The No. 14 UNLV women's golf team makes its first-ever appearance at the NCAA Championship as a team after finishing second at the NCAA East Regional. The Rebels enter the tournament in strong fashion as the No. 2 seed from the East, having finished no worse than second place as a team since March. They will face 24 of the best teams in the country over four days at the Lake Course at Grand National (Par 72, 6,215 Yards) in Opelika, Ala. Hosted by Auburn University, the 72-hole tournament will play four 18-hole rounds each day from May 18-21, using standard 4-of-5 scoring. There will be two practice rounds, one each on Sunday, May 16 and Monday, May 17.
THE FIELD: Without a doubt, the NCAA Championship is the most difficult tournament of the year. Of the Golfweek Top 20, 17 advanced past the regional, and the entire field of 24 ranks among the top 40. Auburn University and the NCAA host: No. 1 Duke, No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 California, No. 4 Vanderbilt, No. 5 Ohio State, No. 6 New Mexico, No. 7 Southern California, No. 8 Georgia, No. 9 Arizona, No. 10 Oklahoma State, No. 12 Washington, No. 13 Wake Forest, No. 14 UNLV, No. 16 Texas, No. 17 North Carolina, No. 18 Stanford, No. 19 Michigan State, No. 21 Tennessee, No. 24 Furman, No. 28 Arizona State, No. 29 Florida State, No. 32 Texas A&M, No. 33 Baylor and No. 38 Purdue. Additionally, six individuals complete the field: Elizabeth Allen (Cal State Northridge), Laura Cross (SMU), Adrienne Gatreaux (South Carolina), Ashley Gomes (San Jose State), Adrienne Millican (East Carolina) and Samantha Richdale (Illinois State).
ABOUT UNLV: The Rebels return four starters and eight letterwinners from last season's NCAA Regional-qualifying team. UNLV has won three events this season and has not finished worse than second since March. The Rebels opened the year in improbable fashion, winning the Northwest Invite by 12 strokes over TCU last fall. In April, the squad defended its title at the BYU Dixie Classic, defeating San Francisco by 27 strokes. The momentum carried into the Mountain West Conference Championship where the Rebels upset fifth-ranked New Mexico for their first conference title. Sophomore Sunny Oh was the medalist at both of the last two events and soared to No. 19 in the rankings. Likewise, UNLV climbed to No. 14 in the latest edition of the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index.
HEAD COACH Missy Ringler: UNLV women's golf head coach Missy Ringler was named the Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year in just her second year at the helm of the UNLV program. The Bloomington, Ind., native has guided the Rebels to both of their postseason appearances, sent a player to the national championship and produced the school's first All-American in the sport. An All-Big Eight golfer at Iowa State from 1990-95, Ringler spent three years as the head coach at the University of Minnesota before taking over the UNLV program in its second year. She and her husband, Lance, a writer for Golfweek, reside in Henderson and proudly welcomed their son, Landon, to the neighborhood on January 11, 2003.
THE LINEUP: The Rebels will use the same five-player lineup as it has for most of the spring: junior Hwanhee Lee, sophomores Elena Kurokawa, Sunny Oh, Young Pak, and freshman Seema Sadekar.
MEDIA: Results of the NCAA West Regional will be distributed to all regular UNLV media following each day's competition. The tournament will also feature live scoring, available on unlvrebels.com, courtesy of Golfstat. For those members of the media wishing to cover the NCAA Championship in person, a credential request must be submitted to the Auburn media relations office.
PAIRINGS & TEE TIMES: As the No. 2 seed from the East, UNLV will be paired with the No. 2 seeds from the Central (Arizona) and West (California) for the first two rounds of play. Pairings for the final two rounds will be determined by leaderboard team standings. The Rebels' first tee times are as follows:
Sunday, May 16 8:06 a.m. Practice Round #1 Monday, May 17 10:54 a.m. Practice Round #2 Tuesday, May 18 1:20 p.m. Round 1 Wednesday, May 19 8:50 a.m. Round 2 Thursday, May 20 TBA Round 3 Friday, May 21 TBA Round 4
UNLV AT THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP: Although this is the first time the Rebels have advanced to the national finals as a team, the trip is a return for sophomore Sunny Oh. Oh qualified as an individual last year after winning the NCAA West Regional. She finished tied for 11th overall, just four strokes behind the winner, and earned honorable mention All-America honors.
UNLV AT THE EAST REGIONAL: The Rebels were sharp in their last time out, shooting three consecutive 297s to post a wire-to-wire runner-up finish at the NCAA East Regional. Sophomore Sunny Oh tied for fifth individually, and all five Rebels squeezed into the top third of the field of 108.
UNLV VS. THE FIELD: After getting shipped out to the East for the Regional, the Rebels faced an unfamiliar field of teams from outside their own region. In fact, UNLV had met only seven of its 20 opponents head-to-head prior to the regional. However, now that the Rebels have gotten a glimpse of the best teams in the East, UNLV has faced all 23 opponents at the NCAA Championship at some point this season. Head-to-head, the Rebels own a 26-24 record against teams in the NCAA Championship.
REWRITING THE RECORD BOOKS: The Rebels have done plenty of rewriting of the school record book this year. Three times in the spring, the Rebels broke the school record for low team round and for low team tournament scores. The most impressive of the rounds came in the finale at the Mountain West Conference. The Rebels shot 276 as a team in the final round, shattering the previous record by 13 strokes that stood for only three weeks. The team finished the 54-hole conference tournament with an 856 score, 20 strokes better than the 876 the group shot at the BYU Dixie Classic. Leading the way to the school record round was freshman Seema Sadekar, who broke Sunny Oh's low round record of 67 with a five-under par 66.
VICTORY COUNT: As a team, UNLV won three times in 2003-04. The Rebels won the Northwest Invite by 12 strokes over TCU, the BYU Dixie Classic by 27 strokes over San Francisco, and the Mountain West Conference Championship by two strokes over New Mexico. Prior to the year, UNLV had only won team win in the program's history.
VICTORY COUNT, TWO: UNLV also boasted two individual wins this year, both by sophomore Sunny Oh. Oh won the BYU Dixie Classic by three strokes over teammate Seema Sadekar just three weeks before topping the field at the MWC Championship, defeating New Mexico's Katrina Leckovic and Shannon Johnson by two strokes. The wins were the second and third of Oh's career and brought the school's all-time individual win total to four. Hwanhee Lee earned medalist honors at the 2002 Lady Aztec Invitational.
OH EARNS MWC PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Sunny Oh became the first player in school history and the first player in conference history other than a player from New Mexico to earn the Mountain West Conference Player of the Year Award. While Oh's victory at the conference championship may have cemented the award for her, it was her solid play all year that put her in position to win. Oh ranked second in the league with a 73.93 scoring average and twice earned the conference's Player of the Month awards.
RINGLER NAMED MWC COACH OF THE YEAR: Also honored following the MWC Championship was head coach Missy Ringler, who guided the only team other than New Mexico to win an MWC crown. On the strength of the Rebels' play all season and at the conference championship, Ringler was named the league's Coach of the Year. It marked the first time that Ringler had been so honored and the first such award to be won by UNLV.
OH EARNS ALL-MWC ACCOLADES: For the second time in her career, Sunny Oh was named to the All-Mountain West Conference team. Oh was the only Rebel chosen to the team, and earned the honor for the second straight year.
OH RECOGNIZED BY GOLF WORLD: In addition to all of the league honors bestowed upon Oh, Golf World chose Oh as its Player of the Week in the magazine's April 16 edition. The recognition came after Oh won the BYU Dixie Classic and led the Rebels to the team title there.
OH GETS TASTE OF LPGA: As if Sunny Oh's collegiate resume was not impressive enough, the sensational sophomore became the first player in school history to play in an LPGA event when she qualified for the field of the 2004 Takefuji Classic in Las Vegas. Oh won a one-round qualifier to earn a spot in the 143-player field. As an amateur, Oh tied for 49th overall, finishing the 54-hole event at five-over par.
