April 16, 2004
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame women’s golf team will travel to West Lafayette, Ind., this weekend, April 17-18, looking to repeat the great play it turned in at the team’s most recent event, the Indiana Invitational (April 3-4). After a record-setting fall that was the best semester in program history, the Irish had a tumultuous start to their spring campaign, shooting scores of 959 (316-327-316) and 961 (319-319-323) in their first two spring outings (St. Croix Collegiate Classic, Baylor/Tapatio Springs Shootout). At the Hoosier-hosted tourney, however, Notre Dame found its stroke again as the Irish came in fifth with a 46-over par score of 934 (303-314-317). The team was led by sophomore Katie Brophy’s (Spokane, Wash./Gonzaga Prep) runner-up performance as she fired a one-over, 54-hole total of 223 (72-74-77), placing her five shots behind the tournament medalist. Overall, Notre Dame has a team scoring average of 308.30 in 2003-04, which is a school record and just shy of eight strokes better than the previous mark set in 2002-03 (316.29).
The Tournament: The Lady Boilermaker Invitational will be a two-day, 54-hole tournament played at the par-72, 5,900-yard Kampen Course at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex. Team scoring for the event will be calculated using the “six-count-four” format where each team’s scoring lineup consists of six players and the four lowest scores will count toward the team total. The Lady Boilermaker consists of 36 holes on Saturday with the final 18 holes to be played on Sunday. The tournament will commence each day with a shotgun start at 8:00 (EST).
The Teams: The Lady Boilermaker Invitational features a 12-team field that includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kent State, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Purdue, Texas A&M and Wisconsin. Six of the teams participating at the Purdue tourney were also at Notre Dame’s last event in Bloomington, Ind., with three of those squads finishing directly ahead of the Irish in places two, three and four (Michigan State, Indiana, Iowa). Kent State, Michigan and Wisconsin also played at the IU Invite two weeks ago.
Irish Lineup: Third-year Notre Dame head coach Debby King’s lineup will consist of five of the six players that played at the Indiana Invitational; four of the five have taken part in all three of the Irish’s spring tournaments. Sophomore Brophy, junior Karen Lotta (Los Angeles, Calif./Marymount), freshman Noriko Nakazaki (Hanover Park, Ill./Hoffman Estates), senior co-captain Rebecca Rogers (Alpharetta, Ga./Centennial) and sophomore Sarah Bassett (Spokane, Wash./Lewis and Clark) each participated in the IU tournament. After Brophy in Bloomington was Lotta with a 235 (80-76-79), followed by Nakazaki’s mark of 238 (73-84-81). Rogers played as a member of the scoring lineup for the first time since last spring at the 2003 Peggy Kirk Bell, shooting 252 (80-82-90). The other member of this weekend’s lineup is senior co-captain Shannon Byrne (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove). Byrne will be participating in her second spring tournament and will be making her first appearance in the scoring lineup since the fall. Byrne’s lone spring performance came in the U.S. Virgin Islands as she shot 258 (80-88-90) at the St. Croix Collegiate Classic.
Irish Leaders: Nakazaki has paced Notre Dame since she arrived on campus in the fall. The rookie continues to lead the team in scoring at 76.22 (27 rounds), which is a school single-season record for stroke average. Brophy, though, has been guiding the Irish since the semester break as she has a spring average of 78.44 in nine rounds of play.
Tournament Results: Results from the Lady Boilermaker Invitational will be available on the Notre Dame website, www.und.com, following play on each day of the tournament.
Next For The Irish: After the Lady Boilermaker Invitational, Notre Dame will play in its final and most significant tournament of the 2003-04 season, the BIG EAST Women’s Golf Championship. Defending-champion Notre Dame will host the BIG EAST tournament, as it did last season, at the Warren Golf Course, Saturday-Sunday, April 24-25.
– ND –