UNLV women’s golf set for NCAA Regionals
The UNLV women’s golf team will begin play today in its sixth consecutive NCAA Regionals.
The Rebels are the 16th seed in the 21-team West regionals, which start at 8 a.m. at the par-72, 6,018-yard Lincoln Hills Golf Club in Lincoln, Calif.
Coach Missy Ringler said she thought her team, coming off a third-place finish at the Mountain West Conference Championships, had done enough to qualify.
“If it were the end of the fall, I’d be surprised,” Ringler said. “But we have played well in the spring, and I thought we had earned our way in.”
The top eight teams from the regional qualify for the NCAA Championships, which will be May 20 to 23 at Albuquerque, N.M.
Ringler said the Rebels will need solid play from their entire five-player lineup, particularly senior Tonya Choate and junior Kasi Lee, in order to advance.
“Our four and five have to play well for us to have a chance,” Ringler said of Choate and Lee. “If they can post a 73 or a 74, that can push us forward.
“They can do it. The talent is there.”
Choate has had an up-and-down year, averaging 79.7 strokes per round. Her best score was a 73 at the UNLV Spring Invitational.
Lee is averaging 79.9 strokes, but she played some of her best golf this year at Lincoln Hills, where she had a three-day total of 230 during the Sacramento State Preview in April.
Ringler’s young team has matured during the spring. The Rebels start two freshmen and a sophomore. But the team’s confidence has grown, and Ringler thinks it reflects in their improved play.
“Our team chemistry has gotten so much better since the fall,” Ringler said. “They pull for each other, and we’ve established a solid foundation for the future.”
Ringler thinks UNLV — seeking its third NCAA Championships berth, after advancing in 2004 and 2006 — will benefit from having played Lincoln Hills.
“We learned a lot,” she said of the course, which is hosting an NCAA event for the first time. “We had some success there, and it will help our confidence.”
Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913.
