March 23, 2003
Boerne, Texas – The Notre Dame women’s golf team fired an opening round 30-over par 318 in Sunday’s opening round of the Baylor-Tapito Springs Shootout to finish the day tied for seventh with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The Irish go into Monday’s second round 20 strokes out of the lead held by Texas Christian University with a 10-over par 298. The tournament is being played on the par 72, 6,007-yard Tapito Springs Resort.
Following Texas Christian in a tie for second place are Illinois and Missouri in the 12-team tournament. Those two schools shot opening round 311s, putting them 13 strokes out of first. Baylor University, the host school, is fourth with a 312 and Wisconsin is fifth with a 313 mark.
Individually, Notre Dame is led by freshman Sarah Bassett (Spokane, Wash.) who shot a six-over par 78 for her opening round to put her in a four-way tie for 17th among the 69 players in the tournament. Bassett is 10-strokes behind the tournament leader DRae Ward of TCU, who shot an opening round, four-under par 68. She has a three stroke lead over Missouri’s Kelli Strubinger who has a one-under par 71 and is three strokes off the lead. TCU’s Stephanie Godare is third with an even-par 72. Five golfers – Randi Gauthier (North Texas), Melissa Mason (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi), Hanna Svenningsson (Baylor), Carli Gregorin (Wisconsin) and Denise Knaebel (Illinois) – are tied for fourth at three-over par 75.
Following Bassett for the Irish is senior Terri Taibl (Elm Grove, Wis) who is tied for 21st with a seven-over par 79. Freshman Katie Brophy (Spokane, Wash.) is tied for 27th after shooting an eight-over par 80. Junior Shannon Byrne (Arlington Heights, Ill.) follows Brophy in a tie for 31st with a nine-over par 81. Karen Lotta (So., Los Angeles, Calif.), playing as an individual entrant is tied for 38th with an 82 and Lauren Gebauer (Fr., Columbus, Ohio) rounds out the Irish golfers tied for 59th with an 87.
The second round of play in the Baylor – Tapito Springs Shootout is scheduled to begin at 7:30 a.m. (CST) on Monday morning, March 24 with the final round of play coming on Tuesday, March 25.
FINAL TEAM RESULTS (18-hole totals): 1. Texas Christian 298; t2. Illinois 311; Missouri 311; 4. Baylor 312; 5. Wisconsin 313; 6. Kent State 315; t7. Notre Dame 318; Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 318; 9. McLennan Community College 321; 10. Texas-El Paso 327; 11. North Texas 329; 12. Texas-Pan American 335.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (of 69): 1. DRae Ward (TCU) 68; 2. Kelli Strubinger (Missouri) 71; 3. Stephanie Godare (TCU) 72; t4. Randi Gauthier (North Texas) 75; Melissa Mason (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi) 75; Hanna Svenningborn (Baylor) 75; Carli Gregorin (Wisconsin), Denise Knaebel (Missouri) 75; t9. Heather MacRae (MCC) 76, Renata Young (Illinois) 76, Malinda Johnson (Wisconsin) 76.
NOTRE DAME INDIVIDUALS (of 69): t17. Sarah Bassett 78; t21. Terri Taibl 79; t27. Katie Brophy 80; t31. Shannon Byrne 81; t38. *Karen Lotta 82; t59. Lauren Gebauer 87.
*individual entrants