June 18, 2014
U.S. Women’s Open Championship Central
Four Winds Invitational Championship Central
Blackthorn Golf Course – Directions and Information
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame women’s golf program has an exciting weekend coming up as rising sophomore Jordan Ferreira is set for her first U.S. Women’s Open in Pinehurst, N.C., while two alums and a rising freshman are competing in the Symetra Tour’s Four Winds Invitational at Blackthorn Golf Club in South Bend.
Ferreira begins her weekend at 12:41 p.m. (ET) Thursday at the No. 1 tee box at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club’s No. 2 course. Competing as an amateur, Ferreira will tee off with fellow amateur Celine Boutier of France and former Alabama standout Brooke Pancake. Boutier, who will be a junior at Duke next year, won the ACC Championship this year in helping the Blue Devils to ACC and NCAA Championships.
The same group will be paired up Friday, as the trio will start from the No. 10 tee box at 6:56 a.m. (ET). Ferreira is one 156 competitors in this year’s field.
A University Place, Wash., native, Ferreira qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open by winning a sectional qualifying tournament at Rainier Golf and Country Club in Seattle, Wash., at the end of May. She shot three-over par (77-70) to take medalist honors in a field of 55 players, while her two-under par 70 in the afternoon round set a new women’s course record. The round saw her birdie holes 15 and 18 and proved to be the only sub-par round of the field.
Ferreira becomes just the latest Irish standout to earn a spot in the field as she joins Ashley Armstrong (2012), Lindsay Weaver (2012), Becca Huffer (2012), Nicole Zhang (2010) and Crissy Klein (1995) in competing at one of the sport’s best tournaments. Zhang had the best result in the elite field as she finished T-97th.
While Ferreira is in North Carolina, Irish alums Huffer (’12), Noriko Nakazaki (’07) and incoming freshman Kari Bellville will all compete in the Symetra Tour’s Four Winds Invitational at Blackthorn Golf Club in South Bend this weekend (June 20-22).
The three-day, 54-hole tournament is making its third appearance in South Bend and will again return to the tough par-72, 6,419 yard Blackthorn course.
Huffer, an All-BIG EAST honoree all four years at Notre Dame, was the BIG EAST Rookie of the Year following the 2008-09 season. As a senior, she led the Irish in scoring average (75.34), rounds in the 70’s (27), top-10 finishes (4) and wins (1), while also finishing fifth at the BIG EAST Championship.
“I’m excited to go back and play in South Bend and I’m looking forward to being back on campus,” Huffer told the Symetra Tour. “I’ve never played Blackthorn before so I’m excited to see it; I’ve heard it’s a good courseââ’¬¦hopefully I have a good tournament out there (South Bend), I may put on my Notre Dame hat and try to capitalize on the atmosphere in South Bend.
“I just loved the overall experience at Notre Dame, I had a lot of fun with my team. Getting to play college golf and be part of the Notre Dame athletic experience was just awesome. I feel like I’m headed back to my second home.”
Nakazaki, who played at Notre Dame from 2003-2007, was a four-time All BIG EAST honoree. She was also a three-time recipient of the Notre Dame Monogram Club Team MVP. As a senior, she became the first golfer in program history to qualify for NCAA play as an individual entrant.
Bellville enters the tournament on a hot streak as she recently won the Indiana State Junior Golf Championship at the Twin Lakes Country Club in Carmel, Ind. Her one-under par final round 71 put her seven strokes ahead of her nearest competitor.
A Granger, Ind., and Penn High School product, Bellville will join her five new Irish teammates in the fall as they look to improve upon a fifth-place finish at last year’s Atlantic Coast Conference Championships.
While Bellville can’t compete for the money since she is an amateur, the purse of $150,000 is the second largest purse on the Symetra Tour behind only the Self Regional Healthcare Foundation Women’s Health Classic in Greenwood, S.C. ($200,000).
–ND–