Sept. 30, 2006
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – As the Notre Dame women’s golf team reaches the midway point of the 2006 fall season, they will head to Lawrence, Kan. to take part in the Marilynn Smith Sunflower Invitational at the par 72 Alvamar Golf Club on Monday, Oct. 2 and Tuesday, Oct. 3. Monday’s action will feature 36 holes of play beginning with an 8:00 a.m. shotgun start, while Tuesday’s third and final round begins with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start.
TOURNAMENT: Kansas State hosted the Marilynn Smith Sunflower Invitational last season at the Colbert Hills Golf Course in Manhattan, Kan. TCU won the team title with a score of 869, while Helene Robert of Kansas State took home medalist honors with a 215.
The University of Kansas previously hosted the tournament in 2004 at the Alvamar Golf Club. The Jayhawks captured the title with a score of 946.
FORMAT: 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 second round will be played immediately after round one on Monday. Team pairings for the first two rounds will stay the same and pairings for the third round will be based on results from rounds one and two.
FIELD: A total of 16 teams will tee it up at the Alvamar Golf Club. Joining the Fighting Irish will be Arkansas-Little Rock, Creighton, Drake, Evansville, Illinois State, Indiana State, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, North Texas, Southern Mississippi, UMKC, Wichita State and Wisconsin. Notre Dame has faced two of the teams already this season. The Irish bested both Illinois State and Wichita State at last weekend’s Lady Irish Invitational.
NOTRE DAME LINEUP: Noriko Nakazaki (Hanover Park, Ill./Hoffman Estates) will play from the No. 1 spot in the Notre Dame lineup for the third straight event. She has led the Irish during both tournaments this season. The senior carries the program’s top career stroke average of 75.99 into the tournament. This season, Nakazaki possesses a team-best 75.00 average and has finished in the top-15 of both tournaments. The senior captain placed in a tie for 14th at the season-opening Cougar Classic and tied for eighth at last weekend’s Lady Irish Invitational.
Sophomore Lisa Maunu (St. Thomas, Ontario/Collegiate Parkside Institute) occupies the second position in the Fighting Irish lineup for third time this season. She is second on the team with a 75.67 stroke average in six rounds of play. Maunu has finished in the top-20 of both tournaments this season. She carded the Irish’s top round of the season with a one-under par 71 in the first round of the Cougar Classic.
Freshman Kristin Wetzel (Middletown, N.Y./Hilton Head Prep School) is coming off a solid showing at the Lady Irish Invitational and will play from the No. 3 position in the Irish lineup this week. Wetzel carries a 78.50 stroke average and a low round of 72 (E).
Jane Lee (Atlanta, Ga./Peninsula) and Annie Brophy (Spokane, Wash./Gonzaga Prep) will complete the Notre Dame scoring lineup. Lee, a junior, competed in her first event of the season last weekend and fired a 238 (81-74-83) while playing as an individual entrant at the Lady Irish Invitational. Brophy, a freshman, has posted a 77.33 average, which ranks third on the team, during her first two collegiate tournaments.
Senior Stacy Brown (The Woodlands, Texas/The Woodlands) will be playing as an individual entrant for Notre Dame. Brown brings an 81.00 season stroke average into the Marilynn Smith Sunflower Invitational and a 78.85 career mark.
LAST TIME OUT: Notre Dame finished second among 14 teams at the Lady Irish Invitational, which was held at the Warren Golf Course on Sept. 23 and 24. The Irish shot a three-round total of 925 (306-306-313) (+61) at their home course.
Nakazaki led the Irish for the second straight week as she fired a 14- over par 230 (74-76-80) to place in a tie for eighth out of the 73-golfer field. Finishing two shots behind Nakazaki was Maunu (76-81-75) and Wetzel (81-72-79), who both carded identical 54-hole totals of 232 to tie for 11th.
Brophy registered a 235 (77-79-79) to tie for 23rd and Lee tied for 28th with a 238 (81-74-83) as an individual entrant. Brown rounded out the scoring lineup for Notre Dame as she recorded a 243 (79-79-85), which tied her for 38th overall.
IRISH THOUGHTS: Notre Dame head coach Susan Holt shares her thoughts on the team and the Marilynn Smith Sunflower Invitational …
Susan Holt – head coach …
“I certainly expect to have a chance to win this tournament. Missouri is ranked ahead of us and Kansas and Kansas State are right below us so I definitely think it’s feasible that if we play well, we can win. Having a chance to win is certainly my expectation.”
“After finishing second last weekend, we really emphasized a lot of short game work this past week. Improving your short game is the quickest way to get your scores down. I hope it pays off for us.”
OPEN FOR BUSINESS:A private dedication will be held this Saturday, Sept. 30 for the opening of the Robert and Marilyn Rolfs Family All-Season Varsity Golf Facility, which is located at the Warren Golf Course on the northeast corner of the University of Notre Dame campus. The $2.1 million, 10,333-square foot facility will officially be open for use beginning next week for both the Irish men’s and women’s golf programs.
The building features a 5,000-square foot indoor short game area, that includes a putting green, chip and pitch area along with a practice bunker will allow the student-athletes the ability to practice their short game year-round on campus. One of the nicest features of the facility are the six hitting stations that are located within the building that lead out to the Warren Golf Course driving range, allowing players to work on their swings in all weather conditions. Incorporated within the stations is state-of-the-art video equipment to give players and coaches instant feedback on players’ swing techniques.
Four offices are located on the east end of the building to accommodate the coaching staffs. Each student-athlete will have his or her own locker area in their respective locker room and a fully-furnished lounge is available to members of both teams for studying or relaxing. Another asset for the teams is a club repair room, which is located in the southern wing of the facility.
RESULTS:Results from each day’s action of the Marilynn Smith Sunflower Invitational can be found at www.kuathletics.com.
NEXT UP: The Irish will next travel to California during fall break to compete in the Lady Aztec Invitational on Oct. 16 and 17 at The Auld Course in San Diego.
–ND–