Oct. 17, 2004
Fayetteville, Ark. – The Notre Dame women’s golf team fired a 26-over 314 in the opening round of the Lady Razorback Invitational on Sunday at the par 72, 6,015-yard Pinnacle Country Club. The Fighting Irish, who currently reside in ninth-place, were led by freshman Jane Lee (Palos Verdes Estates, Calif./Peninsula) as she carded a five-over par 77 (38-39) to place in a tie for 18th heading into day two. Iowa State’s Lisa Meshke (70) is the individual leader and her team is atop the leaderboard after shooting a 297.
Several of the central region’s top programs are among the 19-team field and they all had to battle windy conditions throughout the opening 18-holes of play. Arkansas, the host school, is currently second and is joined in the top-five by Illinois State, Michigan and Missouri. The Irish, who are coming off of victories at the central regional preview and the Shoot-Out at Legends, hope to make their way into the top-five or higher before the tournament is completed. To do so they will have to climb past some quality squads. Missouri is ranked seventh according to golfstat.com, while Michigan is 15th, and the Razorbacks are 18th.
Notre Dame sophomore Noriko Nakazaki (Hanover Park, Ill./Hoffman Estates) (39-39) is tied with teammate Sarah Bassett (Spokane, Wash./Lewis and Clark) (40-38), a junior, in a 17-way tie for 26th after they each registered a six-over par 78. Junior co-captain Katie Brophy (Spokane, Wash./Gonzaga Prep) fired a nine-over par 81 (37-44) to place in a four-way tie for 58th. Senior Karen Lotta (Los Angeles, Calif./Marymount) carded a 14-over par 86 (45-41) to complete the field for the Irish on day one.
The second round of competition gets underway on Monday with tee times beginning at 8:30 a.m. (CT). The Irish will be teeing off between 8:30 and 9:10 a.m. Results will be posted on the University of Arkansas web site at www.ladybacks.com. For additional information please log on to www.und.com or call the Notre Dame athletics hotline at (574) 631-3000.
Top-10 Team Scores (18-hole totals): 1. Iowa State 297, 2. Arkansas 303, 3. Illinois State 305, 4. Michigan 306, 5. Missouri 309, 6. Alabama 310, 7. Texas A&M 311, 8. UTEP 312, 9. Notre Dame 314, 10. Kansas 316.
Top 9 Golfers plus Notre Dame scores (18-hole totals): 1. Lisa Meshke (Iowa State) 70, 2t. Louise Kenney (Iowa State) 73, 2t. Amanda McCurdy (Arkansas) 73, 2t. Amy Schmucker (Michigan) 73, 5t. Brianna Broderick (Michigan) 74, 5t. Sally Hinton (SMS) 74, 5t. Denise Knaebel (Missouri) 74, 5t. Brenda Norris (Texas A&M) 74, 5t. Kaila Fuller (Illinois State) 74, 18t. Jane Lee (Notre Dame) 77, 26t. Noriko Nakazaki (Notre Dame) 78, 26t. Sarah Bassett (Notre Dame) 78, 58t. Katie Brophy 81, 92t. Karen Lotta (Notre Dame) 86.
— ND –