April 21, 2006
ST. GEORGE, Utah - UNLV women's golf has a monopoly on the top 10 at the Mountain West Conference Championships, with four Rebels near the top of the leaderboard helping to give the Rebels a four-shot lead after Friday's second round.
Elena Kurokawa and Da Sol Chung are tied for fourth while Seema Sadekar and Grace Woo are both tied for eighth after 36 holes on the Entrada at Snow Canyon Golf Course as the Rebels are attempting to win their third-straight MWC title.
UNLV (291-303--594, +18) leads New Mexico (303-295--598, +22) while BYU (300-304--604, +28) is in third place. TCU (312-294--606, +30) improved by 18 strokes and sits in fourth place, followed by San Diego State (310-302--612, +36), Colorado State (311-302--613, +37) and Wyoming (321-320--641, +65).
After five players, including three Rebels, opened with even-par rounds on Thursday to share the 18-hole lead, none from that group is leading now as Catherine Matranga of TCU is atop the leaderboard at even-par 144 (73-71). Matranga shot the only sub-par round on Friday, carding a one-under 71 on the par-72, 6,085-yard course. Mikaela Backstedt (72-73--145, +1) of UNM is in third place, followed by Chung and Kurokawa.
At one point Chung was a stroke off the lead and three-under through 16 holes on her round Friday but the freshman ran into trouble on the final two holes on the course and is tied for fourth. Chung bogied the par-4 17th and then followed that with a triple-bogey on the par-4 18th to finish her round with a one-over 73. Chung has a two-round total of 149 (76-73, +5) and is five strokes behind the leader.
Kurokawa (75-74--149, +5) had a solid second round, carding a two-over 74 and joins Chung at five over, tied for fourth place. The junior won medalist honors at last year's MWC Championships.
Sadekar (72-78--147, +6) opened the day with a share of the lead and the junior played solid golf throughout the day, carding 15 pars, including two stretches or paring seven-straight holes. The reigning MWC golfer of the month did not roll in a birdie though and a bogey on seven, a double bogey on 16 and a triple bogey on 18 gave her a six-over 78.
Woo and Young Pak both started their second rounds tied for the lead at even par, but the duo could not maintain that pace in slipping from the top of the leaderboard. Woo (72-78--150, +6) fired a hire score as the freshman shot a six-over 78 and is currently tied for eighth. Pak (72-81--153, +9) had three double bogies on her way to a nine-over 81 on Friday, dropping her into a tie for 16th.
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 titles before UNLV won the next two, ending the Lobos' streak. The two teams have dueled very closely for the last three crowns as the Lobos won in 2003 by one stroke while the Rebels were victorious by two strokes in both 2004 and 2005.
Saturday's final round gets underway at 9:00 a.m. (PDT).
Fans can get full results of the tournament and follow it live by clicking here.
