Columnist Adam Candee: UNLV’s Sadekar gets roughed up and enriched in the big time

Adam Candee

Wednesday, July 14, 2004 | 9:44 a.m.

Adam Candee covers golf for the Sun. Reach him at (702) 259-4085 or by e-mail at candee@lasvegassun.com.

Seema Sadekar knows the long drives all too well -- both the Annika Sorenstam type and the traveling shower ring salesman in an old Datsun kind.

Sadekar, a sophomore-to-be on the UNLV women's golf team, knows well the 10-hour drive from her Toronto home to Cincinnati, the 27-hour trip to Florida and the 42-hour marathon to Las Vegas. She values her time at home this summer more than ever.

So when the action came north of the border in last week's LPGA BMO Financial Group Canadian Women's Open, Sadekar capitalized on the chance to shine on the home stage. Following a successful freshman season with the Rebels, Sadekar kept her momentum going by qualifying for the tournament and posting two respectable rounds before missing the cut.

The experience far outweighed the result for Sadekar, who is a favorite to take over No. 1 player honors from the departed Sunny Oh next year at UNLV.

"It was like another world," Sadekar said.

That's heady stuff coming from one of the more accomplished juniors to play at UNLV. Sadekar trained at the David Leadbetter Academy in Florida and earned a strong reputation before joining the Rebels. She established herself as the Rebels' No. 2 player.

And yet, standing next to Se Ri Pak on the driving range reduced Sadekar to a wide-eyed teenager with a dream.

"After I played, it was like, this is really what I want to do," Sadekar said.

Enjoying hearty support from the Canadian crowd, Sadekar performed well on her first day, mixing in three birdies to offset opening and closing double bogeys. She followed that 74 with a second round of an upside-down hockey stick and a pair of Tim Horton's glazed donuts (78 -- use your imagination.)

The 8-over score missed the cut by five strokes, but playing on the biggest stage in women's golf enriched Sadekar. At her U.S. Women's Amateur qualifier Monday in Cincinnati, Sadekar felt relaxed as she earned a berth by tying for medalist honors with a 74.

"The nerves were kind of going," Sadekar said. "But not as bad as LPGA events."

Sadekar is not relenting in her training this summer, working out in the morning before spending all day at the golf course. She is marooned at the course until sundown because she has no car in Toronto and her parents don't pick her up until they get off work.

The hard work, though, is not what Sadekar credits for her strong summer play. It's the two weeks off she allowed herself after coming home from a tough May schedule of finals and NCAA regionals and nationals. Sadekar spent time at home with her family and recharged -- the freshman year of college is tough enough without all that extra pressure.

"It was just so strenuous," Sadekar said. "The whole last month of school, it was just too much."

Summer vacation only continues for another few weeks, though, and that's OK with Sadekar. She's had enough of cold Canada weather and is ready for the desert again.

"I'm so pumped," Sadekar said. "I just can't wait to come back to school."

Moore mends

So much for Ryan Moore's injury: UNLV's top golfer is back on the course and picking up right where he left off after winning the NCAA championship.

Moore finished stroke play at the U.S. Amateur Public Links in Maple Grove, Minn., just a stroke off the lead at 12-under after two rounds. That total would have been good enough to tie the USGA 36-hole record if not for Danny Green, a 47-year-old amateur from Tennessee. His 13-under set a tournament record.

Moore won the Publinx title in 2002 and he begins match play today in good shape to earn a second title in three years. A win would earn him his second Masters exemption next spring.

What's most impressive is Moore's speedy recovery from emergency surgery to remove a cyst from his tailbone in Columbus, Ohio, right after his NCAA win. Moore needed the procedure after the cyst, which he had dealt with for a while, became too painful when he walked or bent over to pick up his ball. He had to stay in Columbus -- where he had traveled to play in a U.S. Open qualifier -- until he could fly home to the Seattle area, and then spent a week and a half laid up on the couch.

Moore, though, owns a gift for making the difficult seem routine. He stepped back onto the course last week at the Sahalee Players Championship near his Washington home and blew away a strong amateur field that included UNLV teammates Travis Whisman, Andres Gonzalez and Ryan Keeney, as well as local player Brady Exber. Moore shot 16-under to win by five strokes in the 72-hole event.

"I wanted to go out and play solid and steady," Moore told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "I ended up playing the way I wanted."

Women's amateur

Sadekar will join a number of players with Las Vegas ties at the U.S. Women's Amateur in Pennsylvania in early August.

UNLV teammate Elena Kurokawa qualified in Seal Beach, Calif., with a 74, earning one of 11 spots. Former Durango High teammates Erin Andrews and Whitney Welch also made the field. Andrews, who now plays at Oregon, shot a 75 in Colorado Springs, Colo., to earn one of seven berths. Welch, now at Arizona, fired a 72 to grab one of five spots in Phoenix.

Palo Verde High graduate and soon-to-be Toledo freshman Katy Barrett shot a 75 in Phoenix to earn alternate status for the Amateur.

Keep us posted

A quick note for those wanting to call in local golf news and notes for this column: Please note the new phone number at the bottom. Any newsworthy information on the local golf scene is always welcome.