June 20, 2016
By Chris Masters
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — As University of Notre Dame sophomore golfer Emma Albrecht (Ormond Beach, Fla./Father Lopez) walked the Bent Pine Golf Club in Vero Beach, Florida, on Sunday (her 19th birthday) during the final match at the 87th annual Florida State Women’s Amateur Championship, with her father, Eric, serving as her caddie on Father’s Day, it was crystal clear what the perfect present was for both the birthday girl and her dad — a tournament title.
Albrecht did just that on Sunday, completing a dominant run through the match play portion of the state amateur tournament with a 5&4 victory over University of Iowa incoming freshman Sophie Liu. In the final, Albrecht won the first five holes and was 6-up after 11 holes before closing out Liu by halving No. 14 to earn her first Florida State Golf Association (FSGA) Championship victory
“My hard work paid off,” Albrecht told the FSGA web site, fsga.org, following Sunday’s win. “I felt confident going into the tournament and just kept that mentality throughout the week.”
After finishing third in stroke play at the Florida State Women’s Amateur by carding an even-par 144 (74-70), Albrecht mowed through the competition in match play, clinching her last four contests by the time she walked off the 16th green. In fact, Albrecht only went the distance in her opening match at the tournament, defeating Jamie Freedman, 1-up in the round of 32.
As a freshman at Notre Dame in 2015-16, Albrecht posted five top-15 finishes and wound up with a 74.44 stroke average, good for second on the team and 22nd in the Atlantic Coast Conference, as well as seventh on the program’s single-season list. She has been an alternate for the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship the past two years and will look to punch her ticket for this year’s tournament when she competes in a qualifier July 14 at the Kensington Golf & Country Club in Naples, Florida.
For more information on the Notre Dame women’s golf program, visit the women’s golf page on the official Fighting Irish athletics web site (UND.com/ndwomensgolf), sign up to follow the Notre Dame women’s golf Twitter page (@NDwomensGolf) or register for the Irish ALERT text-messaging system through the “Fan Center” pulldown menu on the front page at UND.com.
— ND —
Chris Masters, associate athletics communications director at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since 2001 and coordinates all media efforts for the Notre Dame women’s golf and women’s basketball programs. A native of San Francisco, California, Masters is a 1996 graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University, earned his master’s degree from Kansas State University in 1998, and recently completed a three-year term on the Board of Directors for the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).