April 20, 2006

ST. GEORGE, Utah - UNLV women's golf had an impressive beginning in its title defense, finishing the first round with a nine-stroke lead as three Rebels are tied for the lead at the Mountain West Conference Championships.

Young Pak, Seema Sadekar and Grace Woo all shot even-round 72 on the Entrada at Snow Canyon Course, putting the Rebels, winners of the last two MWC team titles, in the top spot after the first round. UNLV almost had its entire team in the top 10, as Elena Kurokawa (75, +3) is tied for seventh and Da Sol Chung (76, +4) is just outside the top ten, sitting tied for 11th.

UNLV carded a three-over 291 on the day and is ahead of BYU, which opened with a 300 (+12) on the 6,085 yard course. New Mexico (303, +15), San Diego State (310, +22), Colorado State (311, +23), TCU (312, +24) and Wyoming (321, +33) rounding out the seven-team field. Rachel Newren of BYU and Mikaela Backstedt of New Mexico are also in the group that is tied for first.

It was a strong scoring day for the Rebels, as they combined to make 20 birdies on the afternoon, with Pak leading the way with five. UNLV's scored could have been much lower, but bogies throughout the day kept the team from getting below par.

The winner of the MWC tournament automatically qualifies for the NCAA Tournament and a spot in one of three NCAA Regional tournaments. In the six previous MWC tournaments UNM won the first four before UNLV won the next two, ending the Lobos' streak.

Friday's second round gets underway at 9:00 a.m. (PDT) and fans can follow the tournament live by going to www.golfstatresults.com

Fans can get full results of the tournament and follow it live by clicking here.