Feb. 18, 2007
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame women’s golf team will open the spring portion of its 2006-07 schedule this Monday (Feb. 19) at the Central District Classic in Parrish, Fla. Fifteen teams will tee it up at the River Wilderness Golf and Country Club. The event features some of the best teams from the NCAA Central Region, including six teams in the nation’s top-30.
TOURNAMENT: Michigan State University will serve as host for the seventh annual Central District Classic. Each team’s lineup will be comprised of five golfers with the lowest four scores for each round counting towards the overall team score. The two-day tournament will consist of 54 holes with Monday featuring two 18-hole rounds and Tuesday will have one 18-hole round to conclude the event.
FIELD: Michigan State enters as the highest-ranked squad as the Spartans are No. 20 in the latest Golfstat rankings, while Arkansas is ranked 23rd and Texas A&M is 24th. Other teams in the top 30 are Ohio State (26), LSU (27) and Northwestern (30). Rounding out the field in order of ranking is SMU (31), TCU (34), Michigan (39), Nebraska (42), Missouri (44), Baylor (50), Notre Dame (66), Tulsa (87) and Texas (121). The Fighting Irish faced two teams from the field during the fall season, LSU and Missouri. Notre Dame bested Missouri and fell to LSU.
NOTRE DAME LINEUP: Playing from the No. 1 position will be senior co-captain Noriko Nakazaki (Hanover Park, Ill./Hoffman Estates). Nakazaki posted the team’s top scoring average during the fall season with a 75.93 mark in five tournaments, spanning 14 rounds. She had the Irish’s top 54-hole score of 219 (+3), which occurred in the final event of the semester. All of her 14 rounds towards the team’s overall score.
Lisa Maunu (St. Thomas, Ontario/Collegiate Parkside Institute) will tee it up from the No. 2 spot in the Fighting Irish lineup. The sophomore’s 76.00 stroke average during the fall ranked her second on the team. Her top round of the fall was a one-under par 71, which she achieved twice. Maunu’s low three-round score of the semester was a 222 (+6) at the Cougar Classic (Sept. 11-12). She had 13 of her 14 rounds count towards the team total.
Freshman Kristin Wetzel (Middletown, N.Y./Hilton Head Prep) occupies the third spot in the Notre Dame lineup. She carries a 79.14 scoring average into the spring season. Wetzel’s best three-round score of the fall was a 16-over par 232, which included her top round of 72 (E) at the Lady Irish Invitational (Sept. 23-24). The rookie competed in all five fall tournaments with 12 of her 14 rounds counting towards the team’s score.
Fellow freshman Annie Brophy (Spokane, Wash./Gonzaga Prep) will play from the fourth spot. Brophy ranks third on the team with a 78.29 stroke average. Her low round of the first semester was a two-under par 74 and her top 54-hole total was 229 (+13), which was carded at the Cougar Classic. She had 11 of her 14 rounds scored for the team.
Julie Kim (Bayside, N.Y./Bayside) joins her classmates Wetzel and Brophy in the Irish lineup as she will play from the No. 5 spot in her Notre Dame debut. Kim did not compete during the first semester due to an injury.
LAST TIME OUT: The Fighting Irish concluded the fall season at the Edwin Watts/Palmetto Intercollegiate, where they tied for eighth out of the 19-team field in Kiawah Island, S.C. Nakazaki led the way for the Irish as she carded a three-over par 219 (73-76-70) to place in a tie for sixth out of the 99-golfer field. Her two-under par 70 in the third and final round was her best 18-hole score of the fall campaign. ? Maunu fired an 11-over par 227 (78-78-71) to tie for 27th. Junior Jane Lee (Atlanta, Ga./Peninsula (Calif.)) finished with a 234 (78-79-77), while Brophy and Wetzel rounded out the Irish lineup with respective scores of 237 (82-77-78) and 239 (79-80-80).
IRISH THOUGHTS: Notre Dame head coach Susan Holt talks about the Central District Classic and the beginning of the spring season …
Susan Holt – head coach …
“This is a very strong field to open up the season with. Although, the positive with that is we have an opportunity right out of the gate to make a statement and that’s what I’m hoping for. It’s early in the season and everyone is getting started so we hope things can go our way.”
“We had some very beneficial practice last weekend down in Florida and that gave us a real boost. I was very pleased with how we played. It was nice for them to get outside and play on grass. I think they really know where their game stands right now. We were able to knock the rust off and that felt really good. We hope to build on that at this tournament.”
RESULTS: Live scoring and full results of the Central District Classic can be found at Golfstat.com.
NEXT UP: Notre Dame returns to the course on March 12-14 at the UNLV Spring Invitational in Boulder City, Nev. The event will be held at the Boulder Creek Golf Club.