March 14, 2013
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame women’s golf team returns to action in Augusta, Ga., at the three-day (March 15-17) Insperity Lady Jaguar Intercollegiate Tournament, hosted by Augusta State University. The tournament will take place at the par-72 Forest Hills Golf Club course (6,214 yards). Tee times have been set for 9:00 am each day.
“I think the main strength about this tournament and the one prior is that we get to play two tournaments back-to-back,” said head coach Susan Holt. “Over our spring break we have had the opportunity to play a lot of golf and it’s helping us get back into a healthy rhythm of competition. It’s been great being able to play outside more frequently these last few weeks and taking a break from the winter weather up north. We have taken advantage of our practice rounds and making the most of them on the course. This is a great field we are facing this weekend. Looking back at the scores in years past in the tournament, I’ve noticed that there has been a lot of low scores shot on this course. It’s encouraging to see that and is a good indication that we have another opportunity to shoot low scores as well.”
TEAMS (18): Augusta State, Charleston Southern, Coastal Carolina, East Carolina, East Tennessee State, Georgia State, Illinois, Kennesaw State, Kentucky, Lamar, Maryland, Memphis, Notre Dame, Purdue, Southern Mississippi, Texas, UT San Antonio, Vanderbilt.
FORMAT: Teams of five will represent each institution through the 54-hole contest with the lowest score from each round being dropped from team scoring. Participants will play 18 holes a day. Play will tee off from hole No. 1 and No. 10 Friday and Saturday at 9:00 a.m. followed by a shotgun start on Sunday (9:00 a.m.). Updated tee times will be posted to each daily recap story and can be found on golfstat.com prior to each round of play.
FOLLOWING THE TOURNAMENT: Hole-by-hole results can be tracked via golfstat.com. Results will be updated periodically after every three holes of play. Final team and individual standings will additionally be posted on golfstat.com. Receive a text message via “Irish Alerts” for daily score updates. Sign up for the service by visiting the fan center tab at the top of UND.com. Follow the Irish via Twitter @NDwomensGolf. A full recap will be posted each day on UND.com with final results attached.
THE COURSE: Forrest Hills Golf Club, home of the Augusta State University men’s and women’s golf team, will serve as the host venue for the tournament. Established in 1926, the 18-hole par-72 course (6,214 yards) was initially designed by architect Donald Ross and was redesigned by Arnold Palmer Company in 2004. Forest Hills has been given a 72.2 rating and a 126 slope rating by the United States Golf Association.
EXAMINING THE FIELD: Notre Dame will face three top-25 ranked teams this weekend, No. 9 Vanderbilt, No. 14 Purdue and No. 22 Texas. The Commodores current carry two top-30 golfers on their roster (No. 20 Kendall Martindale, No. 27. Lauren Stratton) while the Boliermakers are represented in the national rankings by No. 39 Paula Reto. Thirteen schools in the field crack Golfstat’s top-100 rankings. The Irish will see 13 teams for the first time this season during this weekend’s tournament. Notre Dame has defeated three teams in the field already this season, which include Coastal Carolina, Illinois and Kennesaw State. Notre Dame’s Lindsey Weaver is currently the top ranked played in the field at No. 7.
THE INSPERITY LADY JAGUAR INTERCOLLEGIATE OVERVIEW: This will mark the sixth year that Augusta State has hosted the tournament and the second time the Irish have played in the event. Notre Dame last competed in the tournament on Nov. 7-8, 2005. The Irish finished second out of 13 teams with a 36-hole total of 617 (+41). Returnee, UT San Antonio, was last year’s team champion with a winning score of 16-over-par 880 (298-288-296) and Purdue’s Paula Reto was the individual champion. Georgia State currently holds the most tournament titles through the six-year span with two and Augusta State has notably finished runner-up all six years.
LAST TIME OUT: Notre Dame hosted its second annual Clover Cup last weekend (March 9-10) in Mesa, Ariz. on the Longbow Golf Club’s par-72 course (6,209 yards). The Irish finished fifth out of 16 squads with a 54-hole team score of 28-over-par 892 (298-298-296). The Irish nearly captured a fourth-place finish as they landed a stroke behind Tulsa. Notre Dame was just one of four teams in the tournament to fire each of the three rounds under 300 strokes. The Irish defeated two top-50 ranked teams, which included No. 27 Northwestern (6th) and No. 41 Mississippi (9th). The Irish posted a perfect 5-0 record against the Big Ten conference. Notre Dame improved their record to 3-0 against Michigan and Kansas on the year. The Irish kept a perfect 2-0 record this season against BIG EAST opponents after taking down Georgetown and USF earlier in the year. Notre Dame advanced their record to 65-23-0. Lindsey Weaver was the highest finisher for the Irish as she tied for nine with a one-over-par 217 (73-72-72). Weaver picked up her third eagle on the year last weekend and increased her count of even or under par rounds to 10. Ashley Armstrong shot her best tournament score this season with a seven-over-par 223 (75-74-74). Weaver and Talia Campbell each defeated five top-100 ranked players while Armstrong surpassed four of them.
CONTRIBUTING EARLY: Weaver and Campbell hold a presence in Golfstat’s Top 25 Freshman Class Impact Ranking list with a combined stoke average of 73.66. According to the list, the pair carries the second-best freshman stroke average in the country with a 73.66, a 1.30 stroke behind Tulane.
TOP TIER OF THE LEADERBOARD: Ashley Armstrong picked up another top-25 finish last weekend to join Kristina Nhim with nine top-25 career finishes to lead all active roster members. Weaver currently has six followed by Oride with five and Campbell with three.
STROKE AVERAGE: Through the first six tournaments the Irish remain on pace to set the best team season stroke average (full season) in program history as they actively hold a 297.62 average. The 2010-11 squad holds the current top team season stroke average set through a full season as they finished with a 299.70 average. Notre Dame finished the fall with a 290.40 stroke average and through two tournaments houses a 297.62 spring stroke average.
HERE COME THE IRISH: Following the Insperity Lady Jaguar Intercollegiate Tournament, Notre Dame heads to Charleston, S.C., to participate in the Briar’s Creek Invitational, March 25-26.
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