April 20, 2005
LAS VEGAS - UNLV women's golf will be shooting for back-to-back titles as the Rebels open play Thursday at the Mountain West Conference Championships at the Meadows Course at Sunriver Resort in Sunriver, Ore.
The Rebels won last year's team title with a MWC-record 856 (+4), ending New Mexico's four-year run as conference champions. A new medalist will be crowned at this year's tournament after last year's champion, Sunny Oh of UNLV, turned pro after last season.
UNLV and New Mexico are the favorites heading into the championships as the Lobos are ranked 12th in the country and the Rebels are 26th in the latest Golf World rankings.
The Rebels' lineup will be Elena Kurokawa, Hwanhee Lee, Seema Sadekar, Young Pak and Christine Hentzner and everyone but Hentzner played at the championships last year.
Kurokawa has had a strong spring season and enters the tournament playing as well as anyone in the country. She has reeled off four-consecutive top-10 finishes, including finishing second at the Spartan Invitational. She is currently second in the MWC with a 74.38 per round average and was named the league's player of the month twice for the months of February and March.
Lee recorded the team's only medalist honor this year, claiming top honors at the Las Vegas Founder's Collegiate Showdown this past fall. Lee earned league player of the month honors in November for her victory, the second of her career. She is averaging 77.07 strokes per round, 12th in the league.
Sadekar, only a sophomore, has been playing better this spring since struggling a bit in the fall. She posted her best finish of the year at the BYU Dixie Classic two weeks ago, coming in second place. Her 77.00 round average is 11th in the league and she fired a MWC-record 66 (-5) in the third round of the championships last year.
Pak and Hentzner are two steady players who have played in a combined four MWC Championships. Hentzner is coming off the best finish of her UNLV career as she rolled to a fifth-place finish at the BYU Dixie Classic. Pak has played in nine tournaments this year and has posted three top-20 finishes.
Thursday's opening round begins at 9:00 a.m. (PT) with teams playing 54 holes each day on the par-71, 6,312-yard course in Oregon. Golfers from UNLV, Colorado State and Wyoming will be paired together in the first round while New Mexico, BYU and San Diego State will make up the second group.
Fans can follow the tournament live at www.golfstat.com.
