April 5, 2006
ST. GEORGE, Utah - The third time was the charm for UNLV women's golfer Seema Sadekar, who earned her first career medalist honors at the BYU Dixie Classic on Wednesday after finishing second the past two years at the tournament. Sadekar helped the Rebels win their fourth-straight classic, with this one coming on the par-72, 6,151-yard Entrada at Snow Canyon course.
Sadekar, the first round leader, finished the 54-hole tournament with a total of 223 (70-77-76, +7), becoming the first Rebel golfer to win individual honors at a tournament this year. Sadekar helped spur a comeback by No. 12 UNLV, which entered the final round down 11 strokes to New Mexico, as the Rebels made up the ground and finished with a team score of 922 (301-316-305, +58).
It was the second victory in three tournaments for UNLV, which won its own invite three weeks ago at Boulder Creek Golf Club, and it is the eighth tournament title overall for the Rebel program.
Three strokes separated Sadekar and 36-hole-leader Mikaela Backstedt of New Mexico, who had moved into first with a two-under-par second round yesterday. Backstedt and her New Mexico teammates struggled though on a difficult scoring day, as she shot a 13-over 85 to finish tied for fourth at 229 (+13). The Lobos carded a 328 (+40) for a total of 956 (+92), dropping them all the way down from first to sixth.
Sadekar took advantage, playing a solid round of four-over 76, rolling in one birdie, three bogies and a double-bogey on a day when the best round was an even-par 72. Sadekar, who finished a stroke out of first at last year's Dixie Classic, won by two strokes over teammate Da Sol Chung (75-76-74, +9) and Haley Brown of Portland State, who both finished at 225.
Chung's second-place finish was the highest of her short career and the sixth top-10 finish in eight tournaments for the freshman.
UNLV senior Elena Kurokawa also finished in the top 15, as the senior came in tied for 14th with a 54-hole score of 235 (77-83-75, +19), the third time this year she has cracked that mark. Freshman teammate Grace Woo (79-80-80--239, +23) was close behind, coming in tied for 23rd and another freshman, Kasi Lee (84-84-87--256, +40) rounded out the Rebel scorecard tied for 72nd.
The Rebels also had two individuals playing in the tournament, with Young Pak (81-81-82--244, +28) finishing tied for 40th and Allison Chell (87-84-85--256, +40) came in 77th.
BYU carded a 927( +63) to take second, followed by New Mexico and then Iowa and Idaho tied for fourth with a team total of 948 (84).
UNLV will return to the same course in two weeks for the Mountain West Conference Championship, which is April 20-22, and the Rebels will be trying to win their third-straight MWC Tournament Championship.
Fans can get full results of the tournament by clicking here.
