Wednesday, March 3, 2004 | 10:03 a.m.
Even after a taxing day of double duty at the golf course, Missy Ringler still sounds pretty darn upbeat as evening rolls around.
That is understandable for the UNLV women's golf coach after watching her team fire two solid rounds Tuesday on a 36-hole day at the Spartan Invitational at Corral de Tierra Country Club in Salinas, Calif. The Rebels came into today's final round in third place, trailing UCLA by 15 strokes but excited to be in the final trio with the Bruins and California, after shooting a solid 12-over to open the tournament.
"We're getting a pretty good consistent team effort from these top five," Ringler said. "That's what I'm liking about the five we have."
Ranked No. 24 in the country by Golfweek, the Rebels are off to a strong start on their spring season. UNLV finished fifth in the 14-team field at Arizona's Wildcat Invitational, besting the host Wildcat and a handful of other top-25 teams along the way. The Rebels are in great shape for another showing in the top five, well within the goals set by Ringler.
The team earned the top-five finish that she hoped for in Arizona and is on its way to meeting her goal of a top-four showing in the Spartan Invitational. Ringler said that while winning every tournament is obviously the ideal, it is also helpful to have another idea to work toward as the Rebels look to build momentum toward next month's conference tournament.
"We're trying to make realistic goals of where we'd like to see us finish," Ringler said.
Ringler is thrilled that her team did not slip from the end of the fall season and through the holiday break. The Arizona tournament was UNLV's first team competition is more than three months and organized practice is severely limited by NCAA regulations during that period.
"It's very encouraging," Ringler said. "It showed me that everyone was ready to go. It showed me that they worked hard over winter break."
The core group of Sunny Oh, Seema Sadekar, Hwanhee Lee, Elena Kurokawa and Young Pak is at the heart of this year's success. The Rebels have a win in their first six tournaments and have finished outside of the top half of the field just once.
Kurokawa led the way Tuesday with a 3-over 147 through two rounds, good for 10th place. Oh and Sadekar were close behind in 12th with totals of 4-over 148. Lee and Pak were tied for 35th, but that did not mean they were long shots to contribute today.
"This team, one through five, every single one has the ability to shoot even par or under at any time," Ringler said.
That is a change from last season, when more of the load fell directly on the shoulders of Oh, the defending NCAA West Region tournament champion. Oh's stroke average of 74.73 through five tournament still places her well beyond her teammates, but Lee has already posted a top-five showing and Sadekar has a top-10 finish as well.
Ringler said that while it is great to have team balance, it does not necessarily relieve the pressure on Oh to lead the Rebels.
"Maybe yes and maybe no," Ringler said. "Sunny will put pressure on herself anyway. She shoots 73 and 75 (yesterday) and she's not happy at all."
"It's nice for her to know that she has teammates she can rely on."
After finishing in California today, the Rebels are off until Mar. 21, when they travel to Austin, Texas, for the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational.
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