May 25, 2006

COLUMBUS, Ohio - UNLV women's golf freshman Da Sol Chung continued her assault on the leader board Thursday at the NCAA Championships, climbing to sixth place after shooting two-under on her round.

Chung is at 218 (+2) and is four shots behind Eileen Vargas of Pepperdine, who has a three-round total of 214 (-2) but fell back toward the pack with a three-over 75 at the Scarlet Course at Ohio State University. There is a group of four who are tied for second at one-over 217 heading into Friday's final round.

Chung was actually at plus one after 12 holes, but the reigning Mountain West Conference Player of the Year birdied three of her final six holes on the par-72, 6,203-yard course. Chung is vying for the highest individual finish by a Rebel golfer at the national tournament, which is currently held by Sunny Oh, who finished 11th with a 301 (+13) at the 2003 championships as a freshman.

UNLV as a team didn't quite follow Chung's lead on moving day in the tournament as the Rebels are currently tied for 18th with a three-round total of 918 (313-301-304, +54).

Duke moved up into the top spot and has a commanding lead after the Blue Devils shot one-under par as a team on Thursday and have a total of 876 (+12) and a 13-stroke lead over USC. The Trojans have a total of 889 (+25), followed by Pepperdine (894, +30) with Purdue and Arizona State tied for fourth at 896 (+32).

Seema Sadekar moved up a few spots after shooting a three-over 75 and is currently tied for 44th with a total of 227 (+11), but the junior is the only other Rebel in the top 100 in the field. Senior golfers Elena Kurokawa (80-79-79--238, +23) and Young Pak (79-79-80--238, +23) are tied for 108th and Grace Woo (82-76-81--239, +23) is tied for 111th.

Fans can get complete third round results and follow the tournament live by clicking here.