UNLV Rolls To Solid Start At West Regional

Rebels in sixth place after Thursday's opening round.

Young Pak is tied for 13th after shooting an opening round 73 (+1) Thursday at the NCAA West Regional.
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May 5, 2005

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - The No. 26 ranked UNLV women's golf team shot an opening-round 301 (+13) and is tied for sixth place at the NCAA West Regional being played on the par-72, 6,139-yard New Mexico State Championship Golf Course.

No. 9 Tennessee grabbed the lead with a 291 (+3) after 18 holes of play, two shots ahead of No. 16 Southern California, which shot an opening round 293 (+5). Georgia and Cal are tied for third after carding rounds of 296 (+8) and BYU rounds out the top five with a 298 (+10). The Rebels are tied with Oregon for sixth. No. 2 UCLA, the defending NCAA Champion, struggled in the opening round, shooting a 304 (+16) to finish in a tie for 10th.

Despite not having a player in the top 10, the Rebels are near the top of the leader board due a strong team effort in the opening round as four of UNLV's five players finished inside the top 50.

Young Pak leads the Rebels and is tied for 13th after carding an opening round of one-over 73 as the senior had three birdies and four bogeys to go along with 11 pars. Elena Kurokawa, the reigning Mountain West Conference Champion and Player of the Year, is tied for 26th with an opening-round 75 (+3). Kurokawa has a streak of five consecutive tournaments with a top-10 finish.

Hwanhee Lee is in 33rd after shooting a 76 (+4), Seema Sadekar shot a 77 (+5) and is tied for 46th and Christine Hentzner is tied for 62nd with a 78 (+6). The top four scores from every five-woman team are counted toward the team score.

Rachel Newren of BYU and Sophia Sheridan of Cal are leading the tournament after the both carded a three-under 69 Thursday. After Newren and Sheridan there are a group of four players who are all tied for third with a score of 71 (-1). Single shots separate a lot of the players who are bundled up in ties as six players are currently tied for seventh, five players are tied for 13th, eight players are tied for 18th and seven players are tied for 23rd.

Friday's second round gets underway at 6:30 a.m. (PT) and fans can follow the tournament live by clicking here.

The top eight teams and top two individuals not on qualifying teams advance to the NCAA Championships, scheduled for May 18-21 at Sunriver, Ore., the same course where the 2005 MWC Championships were played.

Complete first-round results can be found by clicking here.