Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Official Athletics Website

Irish Place Four Golfers On NGCA All-American Scholar Team

July 21, 2003

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Four members of the University of Notre Dame women’s golf team have been selected to the 2002-03 National Golf Coaches Association (NGCA) All-American Scholar Team, the NGCA announced recently. It represents the highest number of NGCA scholar-athletes the Irish have ever fielded, and it places Notre Dame in some elite company — only nine Division I schools in the nation had four players named to this year’s team.

The criteria for selection to the NGCA All-American Scholar Team is among the most stringent in all of college athletics. Honorees must have a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.50 (3.40 for seniors) and student-athletes must have participated in at least 66 percent of their school’s regularly-scheduled competitive rounds during the 2002-03 season. As a unit, the Irish women’s golf team boasted the highest combined GPA (3.479) among all 22 varsity squads at Notre Dame in the spring 2003 semester.

Leading the way for the Irish was junior Shannon Byrne (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove H.S.), who was named to the NGCA All-American Scholar Team for the second consecutive year. Byrne, a three-year monogram winner who is majoring in American Studies/political science and Spanish in the College of Arts and Letters, finished third on the team with an 80.68 stroke average this year. Her best finish was a third-place showing at the BIG EAST Conference Championship, where she fired a career-low 72 in the second round. A five-time Dean’s List selection, Byrne ranks second on Notre Dame’s career stroke average list at 80.79.

Senior captain Terri Taibl (Elm Grove, Wis./Brookfield East H.S.) capped off her Irish career by appearing in eight tournaments this season, logging an 81.41 stroke average. Her best finish came at the Snowbird Invitational where she wound up in a tie for fourth place following career-low rounds of 75 and 74. Taibl, a five-time Dean’s List choice, graduated from Notre Dame in May with a degree in Spanish and anthropology.

Freshman Katie Brophy (Spokane, Wash./Gonzaga Prep) turned in a brilliant rookie season for the Irish, setting a school record with her 78.44 stroke average. Brophy earned medalist honors twice this past season, picking up titles at the Peggy Kirk Bell Invitational and the BIG EAST Championship, guiding Notre Dame to a 44-shot win in the latter competition. Brophy is a two-time Dean’s List selection who is majoring in psychology and Spanish in the College of Arts and Letters.

Freshman Lauren Gebauer (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington H.S.) participated in nine events during her initial campaign with the Irish, peaking with a fifth-place finish at the Notre Dame Invitational last fall. She carded an 80.96 stroke average as a freshman and like Brophy, she is a two-time Dean’s List choice who is enrolled in the College of Arts and Letters.

This fall, third-year Irish head coach Debby King will welcome back nine of the 10 players from last year’s squad, along with a pair of talented incoming freshmen.

— ND —