Kyle Lynne Demeter 2020-21 Staff

Kyle Lynne Demeter enters her 17th season on the women’s golf coaching staff at the University of Notre Dame in 2020-21, and her seventh as associate head coach after being promoted to that role in the summer of 2015 following a decade as an assistant coach.

Since teaming up with current head coach Susan Holt prior to the 2006-07 season, Demeter has helped the Fighting Irish post the top 13 scoring averages in program history while also leading Notre Dame to 10 NCAA regional appearances as well as the first NCAA Championship appearance in program history (2011).

The Holt-Demeter Era

• First NCAA Championship berth in program history (2011)
• Four Conference Championships
• Six-time conference Coach of the Year
• 10 NCAA regional appearances
• 40 NGCA/WGCA All-Scholar Team selections
• 48 conference all-academic team honorees

In addition, Demeter remains the driving force behind the annual Notre Dame Clover Cup tournament, which was held for the eighth time in March 2019 and has become one of the top tournaments on the college golf scene (the 2020 and 2021 editions were not played due to the COVID-19 Pandemic). Played at the Longbow Golf Club in Mesa, Arizona, with the considerable support of the Longbow community as well as the local convention and visitors’ bureau Visit Mesa, Demeter remains one of the tournament’s annual organizers and coordinates the majority of tournament operations and logistics.

Though only able to play 14 rounds in 2019-20, the Irish put together an impressive team stroke average of 292.71. Just before the 2019-20 season was halted, then freshman Lauren Beaudreau, turned in a record-setting 206 (-10) at the 2020 Westbrook Spring Invitational (Feb. 23-24), marking the best 54-hole score in program history (by stroke total and in relation to par).

The 2020-21 season, which only included spring competition, was highlighted by Notre Dame’s second-place showing at the Indiana Spring Invite (April 4-5, 2021), with Beaudreau matching her record (206/-10) en route to winning medalist honors. The 2020-21 season also saw Abby Heck graduate after a stellar four-year career with the Irish as she finished with a 74.61 career stroke average, which ranks as the third-best career stroke average in program history. In addition, Heck earned Dean’s List honors in each of her eight semesters at Notre Dame.

In 2018-19, one of Demeter’s top recruits, Emma Albrecht, wrapped up one of the top careers in program history. Albrecht boasts the program’s top career stroke average with a 73.38 mark. Albrecht also ranks second in program history for career percentage of rounds counted (.962) and tied the single-season percentage of rounds counted mark in 2017-18 with a 29-for-29 showing (1.000) and in 2018-19 with a 26-for-26 (1.000) effort. She reached the 2019 NCAA East Lansing Regional as she participated in NCAA play for a fourth consecutive season (twice as an individual) and went on to play in the 2019 U.S. Women’s Open in Charleston, South Carolina. 

In 2017-18, Demeter teamed with Holt to lead the Irish back to NCAA Regional play after a one year hiatus and also helped Notre Dame to three top-five tournament finishes, including winning the 2017 Bettie Lou Evans Invitational for the program’s first win in two seasons. The team also posted the lowest single season stroke average in program history (293.50) in 2017-18. At the 2018 NCAA Madison Regional, Emma Albrecht shot a final round five-under par 67 to finish tied for 11th (73-75-67=215). The 215 marked Notre Dame’s lowest 54 hole total in NCAA play and the tie for 11th was the second best NCAA Regional finish by an Irish golfer. Albrecht also posted the best single-season stroke average in 2017-18 with a 72.31 mark and now owns the program’s top career stroke average (73.38). Also in 2017-18, Maddie Rose Hamilton set the program record by shooting a second-round 65 (-6) at the Schooner Fall Classic. The -6 also tied for the lowest round in program history in relation to par.

In 2016-17, Demeter helped the Fighting Irish tally the third lowest single-season stroke average (297.59) in the Notre Dame Women’s Golf record book. Under Demeter’s tutelage, then sophomore Emma Albrecht qualified as an individual entrant for the NCAA Columbus Regional where she finished tied for 13th after shooting eight over par (75+75+74=224).

The Fighting Irish had yet another successful campaign in 2015-16, registering a 297.16 stroke average while earning a bid to the NCAA Birmingham Regional. What’s more, Notre Dame won two tournaments in the fall of 2015 and finished second at the high-powered Landfall Tradition, defeating 11 ranked opponents along the way. The Fighting Irish also posted two of the four lowest 54-hole team scores and lowest single-round scores (all relative to par) in school history, and their 30-stroke win at Nebraska’s Chip-N Club Invitational was Notre Dame’s largest margin of victory in more than a decade. As a result, Notre Dame rose to a season-high No. 20 in the Golfstat rankings on March 9.

The tradition of success followed on the heels of a record-setting 2014-15 season, as the Fighting Irish compiled a then single-season best stroke average in program history (296.60), more than two full strokes better than the previous school record (298.70 in 2012-13). Notre Dame also placed in the top 10 in all 10 tournaments it played, including four top-five finishes and the title at Michigan State’s Mary Fossum Invitational.

In 2013-14, Demeter helped Notre Dame to its seventh straight NCAA regional appearance after a strong performance at their first-ever Atlantic Coast Conference Championship. Notre Dame recorded the third-best score on day three of the tournament to put the team in a tie for fifth place with a 905 (+33) total (306-303-296).

A season earlier in 2012-13, Demeter was a part of a Fighting Irish squad that posted the program’s then top team stroke average (298.70). Notre Dame also claimed its third BIG EAST Championship in a six-year period during its final season in the league. The Fighting Irish qualified for the NCAA East Regional with their automatic bid.

Under Demeter’s guidance, then-freshman Lindsey Weaver was tabbed the BIG EAST Player and Freshman of the Year and named to the all-BIG EAST team. Ashley Armstrong collected her second straight all-BIG EAST accolade with Talia Campbell joining her after taking co-medalist honors with Weaver at the conference tournament.

Demeter also was instrumental in the recruiting of two of the nation’s top junior golfers in Campbell and Weaver for the 2012-13 season.

In 2010-11, Demeter helped lead the Fighting Irish to their first-ever NCAA Championship finals appearance and their fourth BIG EAST Championship. Notre Dame posted a stroke average of 299.70, at the time the lowest in program history and also the first time a Fighting Irish squad broke 300 for a single-season stroke average. So-Hyun Park, Becca Huffer, Nicole Zhang and Kristina Nhim each earned all-BIG EAST honors that season as well. The Irish won three regular-season team titles (Mary Fossum Invitational, William K. Warren Irish Invite and John Kirk/Panther Intercollegiate), in addition to the BIG EAST Championship.

The 2009-10 campaign marked Notre Dame’s third consecutive appearance in the NCAA Central Regional as the Irish put together a team stroke average of 306.60. The team’s best finish was a second-place tie in the 12-team field at the Alamo Invitational. There, Annie Brophy earned co-medalist honors to become just the sixth golfer in program history to win multiple individual titles, having already captured medalist honors at the 2008 BIG EAST Championship.

Three of Demeter’s players earned All-BIG EAST honors in 2010 including Brophy, Katie Conway and Huffer. With her fourth such honor, Brophy became just the second player in program history to earn all-BIG EAST accolades four times.

Known as an excellent recruiter, Demeter has helped the Fighting Irish welcome some of the finest student-athletes in Notre Dame women’s golf annals. In 2015, she teamed with Holt to sign the three-player class that was, by all accounts, the strongest in program history (finishing the 2015-16 season ranked fourth in the nation in Golfstat freshman class ratings), featuring all three players as consensus top 50 selections by every major junior golf media outlet. In fact, Notre Dame was one of only two schools in the country with three top-50 incoming freshmen on its 2015-16 roster.

One of Demeter’s prized recruits, Huffer closed out her brilliant career in 2011-12, finishing with a 75.19 stroke average and parlaying that success into a spot on the Symetra Tour and then eventually earning her place on the LPGA Tour in 2019. A four-time all-BIG EAST selection, Huffer was a two-time team most valuable player and won the BIG EAST Sports Excellence Award for women’s golf as a senior in 2011-12.

Demeter also had a hand in Park’s growth, as the South Korea native was a three-time all-BIG EAST selection and earned honorable mention All-America status from Golfweek and the National Golf Coaches Association in 2007-08.

A 2001 graduate of Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana, and a recipient of a Master’s of Science and Education degree from Indiana University in May of 2009, Demeter returned to the Notre Dame athletics community when she was hired in August of 2005.

Before her arrival at Notre Dame, Demeter compiled seven years of experience in the golf industry, tracing all the way back to her work at the Notre Dame/Saint Mary’s College Golf Camp in 1999 and 2000. The Clarksburg, West Virginia, native also worked at Notre Dame’s Warren Golf Course as a golf shop assistant during her time at Saint Mary’s.

Following her graduation from Saint Mary’s College, Demeter worked for nearly one year at Captain’s Choice Golf Services Inc. in Orlando, where she served as management/tournament coordinator while also working in sales. During the summers of 2003 and 2004, Demeter was an instructor/counselor at the Stonewall Resort Nike Golf Camp in Roanoke, West Virginia, and also spent time as the assistant golf professional for the Palmer Course at the Stonewall Resort for three years.

Demeter married her husband, Kyle, in the summer of 2013, and reside in South Bend. The couple welcomed their first child, TJ, in the spring of 2021.