Columnist Victoria Sun: Rebel freshman takes top honors

Victoria Sun

Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2002 | 8:56 a.m.

Victoria Sun is a Las Vegas Sun sportswriter. She can be reached at victoria@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4078.

The winds whipped and the rain poured over Lake San Marcos Country Club in San Diego Sunday and Monday, providing miserable conditions for the women collegiate golfers at the Aztec Invitational.

When the sky cleared and the final putt was holed, UNLV freshman Hwanhee Lee distinguished herself from the rest of the field to win her first individual title and the first in school history.

Lee's scores of 76 and 74 edged Colorado State's Mayumi Motomaya by a stroke and helped the Lady Rebels finish sixth among 20 teams.

"Hwanhee played great," UNLV coach Kelly Hester said. "I was just so happy for her that she put it together. She's just a winner."

Admittedly, the Lady Rebels struggled around the greens on a tricky course. But Hester couldn't be happier about the first year team's best finish.

"It was kind of a survival of the fittest," Hester said. "We'll take sixth place.

"We beat some teams that had beaten us in the fall so that's always nice. To be honest, not everybody played that good. Even Hwanhee could have shot a lower score."

The 19-year-old Lee began playing golf when she was 11 at the urging of her father.

"I thought it was for old people," she said, giggling. "Then I got into it and I thought it fit me very well."

The fact that she has a hearing problem hasn't hampered her much. Lee lost most of her hearing when she was 3 and wears a hearing aid. She has note takers in class to help her out.

On the golf course she manages just fine.

Lee had two birdies and three bogeys during the final round of the tournament.

"I thought I would never win, but I told Kelly I was going to win before it started," Lee said proudly. "So I finally did. It was awesome."