Sept. 19, 2015
NORMAN, Okla. – In a state where the color red is closely associated with its flagship institution, the University of Notre Dame women’s golf team is hoping to post some red numbers on its scorecard as the Fighting Irish open play at the 2015 Schooner Fall Classic at 9 a.m. CT (10 a.m. ET) Saturday at the Belmar Golf Club (par 71/5,901 yards) in Norman, Oklahoma.
Schooner Fall Classic
Dates: Sept. 19-21, 2015
Format: 54 holes (18 holes daily)
Tee Times: 9 a.m. CT/10 a.m. ET each day
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
Course (Par/Yardage): Belmar Golf Club (par 71/5,901 yards)
Tournament Field (in order of final 2014-15 Golfstat ranking): Texas A&M (12), Mississippi State (17), Oklahoma State (18), Florida State (29), Notre Dame (33), Oklahoma (54), Kansas (60), Kansas State (62), Troy (84), Texas State (89), UTSA (101) and Tulsa (103).
Notre Dame Lineup (2015-16 stroke average): Talia Campbell (72.67), Isabella DiLisio (73.67), Emma Albrecht (75.00), Maddie Rose Hamilton (75.33), Jordan Ferreira (75.33), Kari Bellville (76.00 — competing as individual)
Live Scoring: BirdieFire.com
Twitter: @NDwomensGolf and @schoonerfc
Tournament Web Site: schoonerfallclassic.com
Here’s a look at five things you need to know before Notre Dame steps to the first tee at the Belmar Golf Club on Saturday morning:
- Notre Dame is aiming to open its season with back-to-back tournament wins for the third time in program history and first since 2010-11, when it claimed the titles at the Mary Fossum Invitational and its own William K. Warren Irish Invitational. The only other time the Fighting Irish debuted with consecutive tournament crowns was 2007-08, when they won their first three events (Cougar Classic, Cardinal Cup, Wolverine Invitational) during head coach Susan Holt’s second season at Notre Dame.
- This is the third time in four years the Fighting Irish will be playing in a tournament hosted by the University of Oklahoma. In 2012, Notre Dame finished second in the 18-team Susie Maxwell Berning Classic, and last year, the Fighting Irish tied for eighth in the 17-team Schooner Fall Classic.
- Last year’s Schooner Fall Classic was played on a par-70, 6,082-yard layout at the Belmar Golf Club, and Notre Dame capitalized to the tune of a school-record gross score of 846 (+6) that also featured the two lowest single-round gross scores (277/-3 and 279/-1) in program history. This year’s tournament again will be played at Belmar, but this time on a par-71 layout although the yardage is slightly shorter than a season ago (5,901).
- Notre Dame has three freshmen in its starting lineup this weekend at the Schooner Fall Classic – Emma Albrecht, Isabella DiLisio and Maddie Rose Hamilton. The last time the Fighting Irish had three rookies among its starting five was April 22-24, 2007, at the BIG EAST Conference Championship, when Notre Dame tied host Louisville for first place before falling to the Cardinals on the first hole of a sudden death playoff. The freshman trio of Annie Brophy, Julie Kim and Kristin Wetzel actually started all five tournaments during that spring 2007 season, capping head coach Susan Holt’s first season at the Fighting Irish helm.
- Once again this year, the Schooner Fall Classic is being co-hosted by the University of Oklahoma and the Toby Keith Foundation to benefit the OK Kids Korral, a home for pediatric cancer patients in nearby Oklahoma City. As the tournament’s honorary host, Keith welcomed all participating teams to his home on Friday for a kickoff dinner and a night of karaoke with the legendary country singer and songwriter. Among the other notables in attendance on Friday was seven-time Cy Young Award-winning pitcher Roger Clemens, who also earned a pair of World Series titles with the New York Yankees in 1999 and 2000.
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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 feed (@NDwomensGolf) or register for the Irish ALERT text-messaging system through the “Fan Center” pulldown menu on the front page at UND.com.
– Chris Masters, Athletics Communications Associate Director