Katie Allare (pictured above lining up a putt on the 16th green) had an imoressive team debut with the Irish.

Irish In Second After Rain Soaked Opening Round Of The BIG EAST Championship

April 18, 2010

Round One Results Get Acrobat Reader

Notre Dame Women’s Golf BIG EAST Notes Get Acrobat Reader

BIG EAST Tournament Central

PALM HARBOR, Fla. – The Fighting Irish women’s golf team braved heavy rains and soggy conditions to turn in an opening round 36-over par 320 and secure second place at the 2010 BIG EAST Championship. Most of the five-member team made it to the ninth hole before a halt to play was called due to the heavy rains at the Innisbrook Resort, site of both the men’s and women’s 201 BIG EAST Championship. After a three hour layoff, the Irish went back out on the Island Course to finish their first round of play.

Sophomore Katie Allare (Phoenix, Ariz./Xavier Prep), who was making her debut as a member of Notre Dame’s starting five, led the Irish with a seven-over par 78 effort. After one round of play, Allare is tied for third and sits four strokes off the lead. She had a consistent day that included 11 pars and seven bogeys.

Senior co-captain Annie Brophy (Spokane, Wash./Gonzaga Prep) carded a nine-over par 80 for one of Notre Dame’s three remaining team scores. She struggled through the middle of her round with a stretch of four consecutive bogeys after the restart, but closed strong. Brophy was able to play her final three holes at a minus-one clip that was highlighted a birdie on the par-four 16th. She is tied for 10th with two rounds to play.

Junior So-Hyun Park (Seoul, South Korea/Bradenton Prep) and sophomore Becca Huffer (Denver, Colo./Littleton) each turned in opening round 81’s to round out Notre Dame’s team scoring. Park played an impressive front nine, reaching the turn at even par on the strength of birdies at the fourth and eighth holes, but she could not recapture the touch after the rain delay and finished at 10-over par. Huffer, on the other hand, struggled in the early going with a seven-over par front nine. But in the afternoon, she went three-over par on her back nine, including seven pars. The Irish duo enters the second round of play tied for 14th.

Junior Katie Conway (Wading River/Shoreham-Wading River) shot a 16-over par 87, which places her in a tie for 29th.

Overall, the Irish trail Louisville by nine strokes after the Cardinals turned in an opening round 311. On the individual leaderboard, Louisville’s Sara-Maude Juneau leads the field by two strokes after carding an opening round 74.

Second round action of the 2010 BIG EAST Championship gets underway tomorrow, April 19 at 8:00 a.m. As the second seed after round one of play, Notre Dame’s tee times are slated to begin at 9:40 a.m. The Irish will be playing in threesomes with opposition from both Louisville and Cincinnati. Live second round scoring will be available through www.golfstat.com, while a complete round two recap will be posted on und.com following the conclusion of play on Tuesday.

Notre Dame ScoresT-3. Katie Allare (78)T-10. Annie Brophy (80)T-14. Becca Huffer (81)T-14. So-Hyun Park (81)T-29. Katie Conway (87)
Team Leaderboard1. Louisville (311)2. Notre Dame (320)3. Cincinnati (321)4. USF (323)5. St. John's (326)6. Rutgers (333)7. Georgetown (342)

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