Sept. 27, 2005
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Led by Elena Kurokawa's strong second round and the steady play of co-leader Grace Woo, the UNLV women's golf team is two strokes out of first place heading into the final round of the Dick McGuire Invitational.
Kurokawa got off to a blistering start Tuesday, rolling in birdies on holes two, three and four on her way to a four-under-par 69, which tied for the lowest score of the tournament on the par-73, 6,069 yard UNM Championship Course. She finished her round with five birdies and one bogey and through two rounds Kurokawa is tied for seventh with a score of 144 (75-69, -2).
Kurokawa's four-under par tied her for the second-lowest round to par in UNLV history, a mark she set last year in the first round of the Spartan Invitational with a 67 (-4). The record is five under par, shared by Seema Sadekar and Sunny Oh.
As a team UNLV has posted a two-round score of 588 (293-295, +4) and is tied for fourth place with New Mexico heading into Wednesday's final round.
Pepperdine and Texas A&M are tied for first with two-round scores of 586 (+2) while Ohio State is in third place with a 587 (+3). Woo, only a freshman, fired her second-straight sub par round and is in a three way tie for first with Ashley Knoll of Texas A&M and Caroline Llano of Pepperdine with a score a 141 (-5).
After carding a 70 (-3) in the first collegiate round of her career, Woo battled inconsistency during the second round, but still managed to shoot a 71 (-2) to grab a share of the second-round lead. Woo opened with birdies on the first two holes, but then recorded bogeys on holes four, five and nine to sit at plus entering the turn. Woo regrouped though, sinking birdies on 10, 12 and 15 to get back below par for her round and enter the clubhouse with a chance to win medalist honors Wednesday in her first college tournament.
Da Sol Chung, another freshman in head coach Missy Ringler's lineup, is tied for 30th with a two round score of 150 (72-78, +4), Sadekar is tied for 41st with a score of 153 (76-77, +7) and Allison Chell is tied for 83rd with a score of 160 (82-78, +14). Also playing in the tournament as an individual for the Rebels was senior Young Pak, who is in 92nd place with a score of 163 (79-84, +17). Since she is playing as an individual, Pak's scores do not count toward UNLV's team score.
The final round of the 54-hole tournament is set to tee off at 7:00 a.m. with a shotgun start.
Fans can get full results and follow the tournament live by clicking here.
