Aug. 31, 2006
LAS VEGAS - The UNLV women's golf team was ranked 19th in the nation and Da Sol Chung was tabbed as one of the top-10 players in the country to watch in Golf World's annual preseason preview released today.
The Rebels have won the last three Mountain West Conference championships under the guidance of head coach Missy Ringler and open up their season at the Dick McGuire Invitational on Sept. 11-12 in Albuquerque, N.M. UNLV returns two players from last year's championship lineup and five letterwinners overall.
Among the returners is Chung, who put together the most dominating single season in UNLV history as a freshman last year. Chung finished third at the 2006 NCAA Championships, the highest finish ever for a MWC golfer, earning her first team All-American honors. Chung also was named the league's Player of the Year and Co-Freshman of the year.
The top player on Golf World's list of the "Top 50 Female Players to Watch" was Duke's Amanda Blumenherst, a sophomore who won national player-of-the-year honors. She is followed by Ashley Knoll of Texas A&M, Stacy Lewis of Arkansas, Taylor Leon of Georgia and then Chung. The rest of the top 10 is Leah Wigger from Virginia, Anna Grzebien of Duke, Eileen Vargas from Pepperdine, Dewi-Claire Schreefel of USC and Jennie Lee from Duke.
Golf World's Preseason Poll
1. Duke (17) 4492. Arizona State (1) 4033. Georgia 4014. Auburn 3605. Purdue 3566. Pepperdine 3457. UCLA 3218. USC 3209. Florida 29910. Vanderbilt 24511. Wake Forest 235T12. Arizona 212T12. Virginia 21214. Tennessee 20415. Oklahoma State 19816. Texas A&M 18217. Stanford 16618. California 15519. UNLV 12220. Arkansas 10421. LSU 10222. New Mexico 8523. Ohio State 8224. Alabama 5825. Kent State 47
