Sept. 24, 2009
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Irish women’s golf season continues this weekend when the team tees it up at the Bettie Lou Evans Invitational in Lexington, Ky. First round play opens on Friday, Sept. 25 and the tournament continues with 18 holes of play on Saturday and Sunday. The three-day tournament is being hosted by the University of Kentucky and will be played at the UK Golf Club’s Big Blue course, a par-72/6,168 yard track.
The five players comprising the Irish lineup will be seniors Annie Brophy (Spokane, Wash./Gonzaga Prep) and Kristin Wetzel (Middletown, N.Y./Hilton Head Prep), juniors So-Hyun Park (Seoul, South Korea/Bradenton Prep) and Katie Conway (Wading River, N.Y.) as well as sophomore Becca Huffer (Denver, Colo./Littleton).
Head coach Susan Holt is also expected to enter senior Julie Kim (Bayside, N.Y./Bayside) and sophomore Katie Allare (Phoenix, Ariz./Xavier Prep) as individuals, giving Notre Dame seven total players at the event. It will mark Allare’s Irish debut.
“We are going to take the whole team,” notes Holt. “Two of the players will be entered as individuals but it certainly gives them all a chance to compete and challenge for our top-5. With us turning around and playing in Northwestern’s tournament next weekend, the Bettie Lou Evans Invitational will help serve as our team qualifier for that tournament as well.”
The Bettie Lou Evans Invitational will showcase 15 teams, including three top-25 teams (according to golfstat’s 9.23.09 rankings) in No. 9 Florida Sate, No. 12 Chattanooga and No. 25 Louisville. Play gets underway at 8:30 a.m. on Friday morning, with groups teeing off from the first and tenth tees.
“Certainly any opportunity we have to play in an SEC tournament there is going to be a number of quality teams present, so this tournament is a really god opportunity to see some good competition,” concludes Holt.
THE COMPETITION: 15 teams will comprise the Bettie Lou Evans Invitational tournament field, including (Golfstat rankings from 9.23.09 in parentheses): Augusta State, Central Florida, Chattanooga (12), Coastal Carolina (80), Florida International, Florida State (9), Kennesaw State (75), Kentucky (59 – varsity and JV squads), Louisville (25 – individuals), Miami (107), Middle Tennessee State, Mississippi State (93), Notre Dame (83), Princeton (79) and Texas State (133).
THE BETTIE LOU INVITATIONAL: Notre Dame will be appearing in the Bettie Lou Evans Invitational for the first time in program history, though Holt took her USF team to the event on three occasions. The Irish did play at the Kentucky Invitational during the 1997-98 season, finishing eighth out of 18 teams. Katie King paced the Irish with a 227, tying her for fifth place.
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 tournament will consist of 54 holes featuring 18-hole rounds on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. All three rounds will begin at 8:30 a.m.
RESULTS: Live hole-by-hole scoring of the Bettie Lou Evans Invitational will be available through Golfstat. To access the site go to http://www.golfstatresults.com. Daily recaps will be posted on und.com.
THE LAST TIME OUT: The Irish women’s golf team posted a final round 311 (23-over par) to finish tenth at the Mary Fossum Invitational, held from Sept. 11-13 in East Lansing, Mich. The Irish turned in a three-round total of 926 (62-over par) in their first tournament of the season.
Notre Dame was led by Huffer, who tied for 14th after registering a third round 72 for a three round total of 223 (7-over par). Her final round 72 tied for the second lowest round of her Irish career and her 223 total also tied for her second lowest tournament total with the Irish.
The host Spartans of Michigan State won the tournament with an 875 (11-over par), three strokes clear of Purdue, which finished in second place with an 878 (14-over par). James Madison’s Nicole Sakamoto took individual medalist honors with a 214 (2-under par).
NEXT UP: Notre Dame travels to Chicago, Ill. for the Windy City Collegiate, hosted by Northwestern University. The two-day tournament will be played on October 5 and 6 at the Glen Club.