UNLV women hoping to pull surprise

Adam Candee

Tuesday, May 18, 2004 | 9:24 a.m.

No wide eyes or sweaty palms. Not from this group. Not even in this venue.

The UNLV women's golf team will cap the most successful season in its three-year history this week at the NCAA championships in Auburn, Ala. And when they tee off this afternoon in the first of four rounds, the confident and poised Rebels will be playing just another tournament.

Sound like a bunch of cliche babble? Most times, it does, but this young group really seems to improve in the bigger tournaments.

"They know this is where they're supposed to be," UNLV coach Missy Ringler said. "I'm probably in awe more than they are."

Ringler's first trip to nationals as a coach comes with a hot team. The Rebels came into the East regional 10 days ago as the No. 5 seed and walked out as the second-best team in the field behind national powerhouse Duke, shooting three solid rounds of 9-over and placing into the top two for the fifth time in their past six tournaments.

Even that strong showing, led by Sunny Oh's tie for fifth, did not satisfy Ringler. Depth is the hallmark of UNLV's spring season and Ringler wants improvement from her fourth and fifth golfers at nationals. The Rebels posted fourth scores of no lower than 76 at regionals.

"We actually could have played a little bit better," Ringler said. "I wasn't completely pleased with our No. 4 scores."

Ranked 14th in the country by Golfweek, the Rebels' biggest accomplishment this year may be an in-house one: The girls are ranked higher than Dwaine Knight's guys (15th) for the first time.

Golfweek's NCAA championships preview even lists the Rebels as a "Don't Count 'Em Out" title contender and picks Oh as a "Don't Be Surprised" choice for medalist honors.

"I really feel like we're one of the best teams here," Ringler said. "Besides Duke, we're probably the best one through five team here."

One of their most valuable attributes is a lack of fear. It could easily come from their youth, with just one junior (Hwanhee Lee), three sophomores (Oh, Elena Kurokawa, Young Pak) and one freshman (Seema Sadekar).

Strangely, though, Ringler feels it is not the Rebels' inexperience, but their experience that makes them dangerous.

"Because these kids are such talented and decorated junior golfers, they've played in big tournaments and been successful," Ringler said. "They've been doing it for a long time."

The Rebels arrived Saturday night in Alabama and played practice rounds Sunday and Monday at the Lake Course at Grand National, a par-72, 6,215-yard challenge of fast greens and tricky approaches.

"The golf course is absolutely gorgeous," Ringler said. "It's the traditional South-style golf course. These greens are very difficult."

They will follow today's 1:20 p.m. tee time by going off at 8:50 a.m. on Wednesday. As the No. 2 seed from the East Region, the Rebels are paired with Arizona and California, the second seeds from the Central and West, respectively.