Oct. 2, 2015
Notre Dame Golf Trick Shot Video – Golf Channel Morning Drive Challenge
Chip-N Club Invitational
Dates: Oct. 5-6, 2015
Format: 54 holes (36 holes Monday, 18 holes Tuesday)
Tee Times: 9 a.m. CT/10 a.m. ET Monday; 8:30 a.m. CT/9:30 a.m. ET Tuesday (shotgun starts both days)
Location: Lincoln, Nebraska
Course (Par/Yardage): Country Club of Lincoln (par 72/6,105 yards)
Tournament Field (in order of latest Golfweek ranking): Notre Dame (46), Kansas (81), South Dakota State (112), Missouri State (118), Nebraska (124), UMKC (152), Illinois State (176), South Dakota (184), North Dakota State (191), Creighton (234), Omaha (252), Bellevue (non-NCAA Division I) and Nebraska-Kearney (non-NCAA Division I).
Notre Dame Lineup (2015-16 stroke average): Emma Albrecht (72.80), Talia Campbell (71.80), Isabella DiLisio (72.60), Kari Bellville (74.40), Jordan Ferreira (74.60), Maddie Rose Hamilton (75.40 ââ’¬” competing as individual)
Live Scoring: BirdieFire.com
Twitter: @NDwomensGolf
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – During the two weeks since the University of Notre Dame women’s golf team last took the course in tournament play, the Fighting Irish honed their trick shot skills for a special Golf Channel video challenge. Now, it’s back to the serious business of competition, as Notre Dame travels to Lincoln, Nebraska, for the University of Nebraska’s Chip-N Club Invitational on Monday and Tuesday at the Country Club of Lincoln (par 72/6,105 yards).
The Fighting Irish are making the first visit to the state of Nebraska in the program’s 28-year history and aim to build on a strong start to the 2015-16 campaign that has seen Notre Dame register a pair of top-five finishes, including a victory at the season-opening Mary Fossum Invitational.
“We’re looking forward to our first trip to Nebraska,” head coach Susan Holt said. “The Country of Club of Lincoln was built in 1903 and is a classic golf course which will be fun to play. I’ve heard great things about the course and think it will suit our players’ games very well.
“We’ve had a great week and a half of practice,” Holt added. “Our players were able to focus on making adjustments to their games and I feel confident they will be ready to compete on Monday and Tuesday.”
With their confidence at a particularly high level, the Fighting Irish put together a remarkable video of trick shots for the Golf Channel’s Morning Drive Trick Shot Challenge, combining with the Notre Dame men’s golf team for a series of unique football-themed shots at both Notre Dame Stadium and the Warren Golf Course. The Fighting Irish squads are matched up against their counterparts from Clemson University in a challenge for bragging rights, designed to parallel the football contest between the schools on Saturday night – the videos now are on the Golf Channel web site (golfchannel.com) and the network’s Twitter feeds (@GolfChannel and @GCMorningDrive), with fans encouraged to retweet the Notre Dame video all weekend long in an effort to win the challenge (the victors will be announced Monday).
The Fighting Irish also will look for victory on the course out in Nebraska after compiling a 290.80 stroke average through their first two events. All five players in the Notre Dame starting lineup own stroke averages of 74.60 or better, led by senior captain Talia Campbell (Dallas, Texas/Ursuline Academy) with a sharp 71.80 average. Campbell has finished in the top 15 at both tournaments this season and has been one of the most consistent Fighting Irish players dating back to last year, having placed in the top 20 in five straight events and seven of her last eight outings. What’s more, the returning all-Atlantic Coast Conference pick has shot 73 or better in 11 of her last 13 rounds, stretching back to last spring’s Bryan National Collegiate.
Notre Dame also will look to get continued strong play from two of its freshmen. Emma Albrecht (Ormond Beach, Fla./Father Lopez) has top-15 finishes in both of her college tournament thus far and was the top Fighting Irish finisher at the Schooner Fall Classic in mid-September, placing 12th with a school-record 36-hole score of 139 (-3). Meanwhile, Isabella DiLisio (Hatfield, Pa./Mount Saint Joseph Academy) is second on the team with a strong 72.60 stroke average and has shot 74 or lower in all five rounds of her young career to date.
Sophomore Kari Bellville (Granger, Ind./Penn) returns to the lineup this week after tying for 26th place as an individual at the Schooner Fall Classic at two-over par 144, highlighted by a career-low 70 in the final round.
Junior Jordan Ferreira (University Place, Wash./Bellarmine Prep) also gets the starting nod for Notre Dame out in Nebraska after recording a 74.60 stroke average through her first two events, including a pair of rounds at even-par.
The third Fighting Irish freshman, Maddie Rose Hamilton (Louisville, Ky./Sacred Heart Academy), will compete as an individual participant at the Chip-N Club Invitational. Hamilton was a starter in Notre Dame’s opening two tournaments, tying for 11th at the Mary Fossum Invitational. She is part of a Fighting Irish rookie trio that has combined for a 72.70 stroke average, the third-lowest by any freshman class in the country this season.
Nebraska will offer live scoring of the Chip-N Club Invitational through the BirdieFire web site (BirdieFire.com), with in-progress updates also provided through the Fighting Irish women’s golf Twitter feed (@NDwomensGolf).
For more information on the Notre Dame women’s golf program, visit the women’s golf page of 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