Sept. 19, 2003
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame women’s golf team will play in the Mary Fossum Invitational on Saturday-Sunday, September 20-21, in East Lansing, Mich. The 54-hole tournament will be played on the par-72, 6,053-yard course at the Forest Akers West Golf Course and will be hosted by Michigan State University.
The Irish are coming off one of the greatest performances ever in the history of the Notre Dame women’s golf program. The team opened their season earlier this week (Sept. 15-16) by winning the prestigious Cougar Classic in Hanahan, S.C. Notre Dame secured the tournament title by shooting a school-record 889 (285-304-300), shattering the old mark by 43 strokes (932 at the 2002 Adidas Fall Invitational).
Several members of head coach Debby King’s squad also had invidivual record-breaking performances. Three players each bettered the previous school record for the lowest 54-score by an individual, 224 by Alicia Murray at the 1994 Indiana Invitational. Sophomore Katie Brophy (Spokane, Wash.) and senior co-captain Shannon Byrne (Arlington Heights, Ill.) fired matching scores of 223 and the old milestone was replaced by freshman Noriko Nakazaki’s (Hanover Park, Ill.) one-over par score of 217 (69-72-76), which placed her second overall at the tournament. Nakazaki’s first-round score of 69 also established a record for the lowest round score ever by a member of the Irish.
Notre Dame will turn to these same three golfers Saturday and Sunday. Rounding the Irish five will be freshman Stacy Brown (The Woodlands, Texas), who shot a 13-over par 229 (72-83-72) at the Cougar Classic, and sophomore Suzie Hayes (Dublin, Ireland) as she makes her first appearance of the season for the Irish.
The 15-team Mary Fossum Invitational also includes: Arkansas, Eastern Michigan, Illinois, Illinois State, Indiana, Kent State (2002 Mary Fossum Champion), Marshall, Michigan, host Michigan State, Ohio, Southern Methodist, Toledo, Western Michigan and Wisconsin. Teams will play 36 holes on Saturday beginning at 9:00 a.m. (EDT), with the final round slated for Sunday at 9:00 a.m. (EDT).
Results of the tournament will be made available at www.und.com after play is completed each day.
— ND —