Kyle Veltri Staff

Kyle Veltri completed her fifth season as the assistant women[apos]s golf coach at the University of Notre Dame with the conclusion of the 2009-10 campaign. Since teaming up with current head coach Susan Holt prior to the 2006-07 season, Veltri has helped the Fighting Irish post the top-four scoring averages in program history while also leading the Irish to three consecutive NCAA Central Regional appearances. In fact, if you take into account her first year as an Irish assistant coach, the 2005-06 season, Veltri has been a part of the top-five scoring averages in program history.

Veltri, a 2001 graduate from Saint Mary[apos]s College in Notre Dame, Ind., and a recipient of a Master[apos]s of Science and Education degree from Indiana University in May of 2009, returned to the Notre Dame community when she was hired in August of 2005.

In her fifth season, Veltri helped the Irish to a third consecutive NCAA Central Regional appearance – the first time Notre Dame has played in three straight NCAA Regional fields – and led the Irish to the fourth-best season stroke average with a 306.60 mark. Notre Dame[apos]s best finish of the season came at the Alamo Invitational when the Irish shot a combined four-over par 292 to tie for second in the 12-team field. At the Alamo Invitational, 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. Notre Dame also finished third at both the Bettie Lou Evans Invite (tie) and the 2010 BIG EAST Championship.

Three of Veltri[apos]s players earned All-BIG EAST honors in 2010 including Brophy, Katie Conway and Becca Huffer. With her fourth such honor, Brophy became just the second player in program history to earn All-BIG EAST accolades four times, while she and Huffer had the added distinction of being two of the six unanimous selections to the 12-player team. In her five seasons with the Irish, Veltri has seen six of her players combine to win 16 All-BIG EAST honors.

Known as an excellent recruiter, Veltri has helped the Irish welcome the top recruits in program history during her five years at Notre Dame. Holt and Veltri brought in Notre Dame[apos]s top rated recruiting class at the start of the 2007-08 season as the Class of 2011 was comprised of Conway and So-Hyun Park, who were both ranked in the top-25 nationally. Another stellar class that featured Huffer- also a top-25 recruit- and Katie Allare joined the Irish in the fall of 2008. Next, in the fall of 2010, the highly touted duo of Nicole Zhang and Kristina Nhim will join the Irish. Zhang is another top-25 recruit who recently qualified for the 2010 U.S. Women[apos]s Open, becoming the first member of the Fighting Irish women[apos]s golf family to play in the premier event. Nhim is a top-50 recruit who will be looking to help the Irish reach new heights as well.

One of Veltri[apos]s prized recruits, Huffer, put together one of the program[apos]s best individual performances in 2009-10. She recorded a 74.90 stroke average, which is the third-best mark in program history, and saw all 30 of her rounds counted towards team scoring. Huffer also led the Irish at six of their 11 tournaments. At the end of her dominating 2009-10 season, in which she finished in the top-20 at 10 of 11 events, Huffer narrowly missed individual qualification for the NCAA Championship field. But with her tie for 16th at the 2010 NCAA Central Regional, she turned in the best ever finish by a Notre Dame golfer in NCAA play.

Two years ago, during the 2008-09 season, the Irish combined to post three of the five lowest rounds in school history and four of the top-eight tournament totals in program history. Notre Dame also captured the Heather Farr Memorial Tournament, finishing with a program low score of 858 (-6), besting the previous mark by 12 strokes. The Irish combined to post a 303.39 stroke average for the season, the second best mark in program history.

The Irish finished in the top-five in four of their 11 tournaments on the season and registered 16 top-15 individual showings. Veltri helped field a team that earned four All-BIG EAST accolades, tying a program record for conference all-star selections.

The Irish opened the 2007-08 season with a win at the Cougar Classic in Hanahan, S.C. Lisa Maunu earned medalist honors by firing a school-record three-round total of 210 (-6). Maunu[apos]s first-round six-under par 66 also represented a program record. Notre Dame followed that with a victory at the Napa River Grill Cardinal Cup in Simpsonville, Ky. Park made it a second clean sweep for the Fighting Irish as she claimed the victory. The Irish made it three in a row with a triumph at the Wolverine Invitational in Ann Arbor, Mich.
A fourth team victory was achieved in the spring at the Rio Verde Collegiate Invitational in Rio Verde, Ariz. For the third time on the year, Notre Dame swept the hardware as Park captured the individual title.

The Irish then delivered on one of the team[apos]s goals for the year by winning the BIG EAST title by nine shots over two-time defending conference champion Louisville in Batavia, Ohio. Brophy became the first golfer in program history to win the BIG EAST title outright. Brophy and three of her teammates garnered all-conference accolades.

Notre Dame finished in the top-five in nine of the 11 tournaments on the 2007-08 season and registered 20 top-10 individual showings. The Fighting Irish were also ranked 12th in the Golfstat rankings during the fall. That was the highest ranking ever for the Irish, who had two freshmen and two sophomores in the five-person scoring lineup all season long. Notre Dame garnered the ninth seed in the NCAA Central Regional before finishing 16th.

After the record breaking 2007-08 campaign, Park became the program[apos]s first All-America honoree as she copped honorable mention All-America accolades from the National Golf Coaches Association and Golfweek magazine. Park won two tournaments on the year and posted a single season-best 73.63 stroke average. Park also won two tournaments.

In her second season at Notre Dame, Veltri was an instrumental part with the transition after the hiring of new head coach Susan Holt in August of 2007. Veltri coached the Irish in their first event of the fall season, while Holt was still with her former team at the University of South Florida.

On the season, Veltri helped a young Irish squad that featured three freshmen in the five-person scoring lineup during the spring semester. The team posted impressive numbers, including a then-program-record 305.46 stroke average for the entire 2006-07 campaign.

Notre Dame tied a program record by placing four student-athletes on the all-BIG EAST Team after a fine performance at the 2007 BIG EAST Championship. The Irish were tied with Louisville following the 54-hole event with a season-best 891 (+27) total, but Notre Dame fell by one stroke in the first hole of a sudden-death playoff to the Cardinals.

Notre Dame produced two runner-up finishes, including one at the Lady Irish Invitational. The other second-place finish occurred at Kansas[apos] Marilynn Smith Sunflower Invitational. Notre Dame also made history as senior co-captain Noriko Nakazaki became the first team member in program history to qualify for NCAA play as an individual entrant.

In her first season as a Notre Dame assistant, Veltri helped guide the Fighting Irish to a (then) school record 306.66 scoring average. The Irish had seven top-five finishes, including a win at the Notre Dame Invitational.

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

Following her graduation from Saint Mary[apos]s College, Veltri worked for nearly one year at Captain[apos]s Choice Golf Services Inc. in Orlando, Fla., where she served as management/tournament coordinator while also working in sales. During the summers of 2003 and 2004, Veltri served as an instructor/counselor at the Stonewall Resort Nike Golf Camp in Roanoke, W. Va. Prior to her arrival at Notre Dame, she worked at the Palmer Course at the Stonewall Resort as the assistant golf professional for three years.