Las Vegas, Nevada (September 17, 2014)–UNLV Women's Golf star Dana Finkelstein is making a nice run at becoming the greatest golfer in the history of the Rebels women's program. She added more fuel to the argument when she won the Branch Law Firm/McGuire Invitational played on the University of New Mexico Championship course. It was the third win of her career and she now only trails Therese Koelbaek (4) in win total. Finkelstein, a senior, was the Mountain West Freshman of the Year and also has two Player of the Year honors. –By Brian Hurlburt.
"I'm really proud of Dana," head coach Amy Bush-Herzer said. "The McGuire has a long history of winners and it's great to have Dana's name added to that list."
The senior recorded the second lowest tournament score to par in UNLV history by turning in a 9-under-par 210 (68-72-70). She also finished with the most birdies in the tournament at 16.
"It is great to start the year with a win at the second event," Finkelstein said. "It's also fantastic that as a team we finished second."
The Rebels finished the tournament at even-par 876 (289-294-293) eight strokes behind Northwestern (8-under 868 (290-289-289)). UC Davis finished third at 6-over 882 (292-298-292), Pepperdine finished fourth at 7-over 883 (302-296-285) and fellow Mountain West school San Diego State finished fifth at 10-over 886 (304-296-286).It is UNLV's second consecutive second-place finish, as the team finished runner-up at the Ptarmigan Ram Classic last week.
"The team has had an amazing start this season," Bush-Herzer said.
Finkelstein came into the final day of the tournament tied with Northwestern's Suc Tangkamolprasert at 6-under. Tangkamolprasert sank four bogies in the final round and finished second, three strokes back at 6-under 213 (70-69-74). Northwestern's Hannah Kim (74-69-71), San Diego State's Sirene Blair (72-72-70) and Oklahoma State's Julie Yang (74-69-71) finished tied for third at 5-under 214.
Also competing for UNLV was freshman Harley Dubsky, who finished tied for seventh at 1-under 218 (73-72-73). Sophomore Avery French finished tied for 19th at 3-over 222 (72-75-75), senior Mayko Chwen Wang tied for 44th at 9-over 228 (78-75-75) and freshman Mackenzie Raim finished tied for 54th at 11-over 230 (76-79-75). Sophomore Vivian Hsuan Chen competed as an individual and finished tied for 39th at 8-over 227 (76-73-78).
The tournament featured 16 teams and 93 individuals. The Rebels will have three weeks off before traveling to Texas to take part in the Besty Rawls Invitational on October 12-14.