May 13, 2006
AUBURN, Wash. - The No. 15 ranked UNLV women's finished sixth at the NCAA West Regional behind the strong play of freshman Da Sol Chung and the Rebels advanced to the NCAA Championships for the second time in school history.
UNLV shot a three-round total of 904 (304-301-299, +40) at the Washington National Golf Course in Auburn, Wash., as the Rebels were playing in their fourth-straight regional in the program's short five-year history. Leading the way was Chung, who finished fourth overall with a three-day score of 218 (+2). The sixth-place finish for the Rebels was the highest placing for UNLV at a regional since the squad took second at the East Regional back in 2004, the first time that the Rebels advanced to the NCAA Championships.
The top eight teams and the top three individuals on non-qualifying teams from the three regionals (West, Central and East) advance to the NCAA Championships, played at the Scarlet Course at Ohio State on May 23-26.
Purdue won the team title with a three-round score of 881 (+17), finishing six strokes ahead of UCLA (887, +23) while Washington (888, +24) was third in the field of 21 teams. Paige MacKenzie of Washington took home medalist honors, leading from start to finish on her way to a total of eight-under 208. She won by eight strokes over Rachel Newren of BYU, who finished the tournament at even-par 216.
Chung climbed the leader board each day and on Saturday played her best round, rolling in a one-under par 71 to give her the highest individual placing for the Rebels since Sonny Oh won the West Regional as a freshman in 2003. Chung, the reigning Mountain West Conference player of the year, rolled in three birdies in her final round.
Rebel senior Elena Kurokawa also cracked the top 20, finishing tied for 15th with a three-round total of 224 (77-72-75, +8) as she played in her fourth regional. Seema Sadekar (74-79-75--228, +12) tied for 32nd, Grace Woo (81-7679--236, +20) tied for 66th and Young Pak (80-79-78--237, +21) tied for 72nd to round out the Rebels.
Kurokawa, Pak and Sadekar all were a part of UNLV's first NCAA Tournament team back in 2004 under current Rebel head coach Missy Ringler.
Fans can get full results of the NCAA West Regional by clicking here.
